Several years ago we told readers how cruise ships were probably going to be used more in the future to import drugs because there seemed to be rather lax surveillance and customs enforcement surrounding them.
We’ve been reporting from time to time over the last couple of years on a growing number of instances of crew members being arrested after picking up drugs in one port and then taking them ashore in another, in this case in New Orleans. This week, Norwegian Dawn is four crew members short as they were arrested by federal agents last Sunday in New Orleans during an attempt to bring about ten pounds of cocaine into the US.
What’s interesting about this case is that in the complaint, presented in federal court this week, it reveals a bit about how the Homeland Security agents work. The other aspect that is always amazing is that the crew members carried the drugs to the US aboard the ship, meaning that the security people at NCL who are so meticulous about finding even small amounts of your favorite beverage that you may want to bring aboard the ship unnoticed, allow crew members to bring three-pound packages of cocaine aboard the ship stuffed in their underwear and never notice.
The complete story appeared in the January 7 edition of Cruise News Daily.
