Analysis
Technology is Making the Pacific's Drug Highway Harder to Detect
Transnational criminal networks are leveraging advanced technology to evade detection across the Pacific, deploying semi-submersible vessels and very slender vessels (VSVs) along routes exceeding 6,500 kilometres to Australia and New Zealand. Autonomous trafficking systems, encrypted communications, and cryptocurrencies are creating a distributed, resilient trafficking architecture that exploits limited surveillance coverage and constrained maritime patrol capacity in Pacific island nations.