Cocaine the first to attack; In 2020, gangs will already be trading methamphetamine. Data from the prosecution point to a decrease in the number of drug seizures under the leadership of Bukele.
El Salvador remains a transit point for drug cartels to move their products to the United States and other countries, where gangs play an increasingly active role as they control the territory of many communities in the country.
The gangs went from collecting extortion from those who sell drugs in their territory to direct marketers, without neglecting consumption.
According to criminologist Carlos Ponce, the evolution of gangs has been remarkable in recent years and they are now direct protagonists of the trade and commercialization of illegal substances.
You could read: Carlos Ponce: “The pandemic has changed the form of drug trafficking”
“Initially, the gang began to extort people who sold drugs on their territory, but as time went on, the gangs began to learn more about the business, sell drugs and also partner with some international drug trafficking organizations. Drug, ”says Ponce.
The security expert adds that the gangs have “taken a leap into this illegal trade”.
The gang even ventured into clandestine drug laboratories in the country. In October last year, police clandestine methamphetamine laboratories dismantled to MS-13. The gang members used the facade of a “Christian ministry” not to preach the gospel, but to deal with drugs.
According to police and prosecutors, the gang members prepared various substances in two laboratories that worked in Mejicanos and in the San Luis residential area of San Salvador.
Also: Alleged gang members kill two people on Los Blancos beach in San Luis La Herradura
This finding coincides with Ponce’s assertion about the evolution of these criminal groups, who have ventured into not only drug trafficking but also money laundering, as was demonstrated with Operation Jaque a few years ago.
Attacks in five years
El Diario de Hoy has worked for the past five years with data obtained from Access to Information offices on drug trafficking in the country through requests to the Attorney General’s Office because the information, although public, does not exist . It exists on the internet portals of that institution or in the National Civil Police.
The data reflects the occurrence of drugs previously uncommon in authorities’ seizures, such as heroin, ecstasy and methamphetamine, which could mean that unlike cocaine and marijuana, these narcotics are now more prevalent in the Salvadoran square.
Official data shows that 12 tons of various types of illegal substances have been seized in the last five years. Cocaine is the most commonly seized drug: about nine tons, while marijuana is 2.5 tons.
Heroin shows up on the drug chart, which was once considered a country-only drug, but already has a local consumer market. Heroin, which has seen an increase in seizures and presence in El Salvador since 2017, was also seized 298 grams that year; one gram in 2018; but in 2019 they took 995 grams. Authorities will not report seizures by 2020.
We recommend: Gang member linked to the murder of a cop dies confronting the police in La Unión
Ecstasy also circulates more on the street, last year the Public Prosecution Service registered the seizure of 1,648 grams (1.6 kilos).
On its way to other countries, the drug has not stopped circulating in El Salvador, but it is also being imported for local consumption.
