Former Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent Brian Shanahan has worked in various governmental positions for over 30 years. Originally serving with the New York State Office of Court Administration, he investigated international and domestic drug trafficking operations with the DEA. Brian Shanahan was also involved in several drug agreements between different countries, including the United States and the Caribbean.
Since the Caribbean is so close to the United States, the islands are extremely vulnerable to drug trafficking. In fact, this used to be a major problem for the region. Around the 1970s and 80s, the Caribbean region, which comprises some 31 islands and countries, was the primary transit route for cocaine. Much of this cocaine came from Central America, specifically Colombia at the time. It was estimated that the Caribbean transmitted roughly 10 percent of all cocaine bound for the United States during this high-trafficking time.
In recent years, cocaine movement through the Caribbean has dropped. Unfortunately, it hasn’t stopped. While there was a drop in the amount of cocaine imports from the Caribbean in 2011 and 2012, there was a significant jump of around 10 percent in 2012. Certain islands in the Caribbean still serve as major transit locations for cocaine, such as the Bahamas. Alongside this, Jamaican cannabis has also become widely popular among drug traffickers.
