Shifting landscape suitability for cocaine trafficking through Central America in response to counterdrug interdiction

Magliocca, Nicholas R.; Summers, Diana S.; Curtin, Kevin M.; McSweeney, Kendra; Price, Ashleigh N.

doi:10.1016/j.landurbplan.2022.104359

Cited by 9 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Experimentally, heroin usually has a low rate of detection by NDDs ( 17 ). Furthermore, changes in the demand for different drugs, repression in the drug trade, and the trafficking routes ( 33 ) might also influence narcotic detection by NDDs in this study. New NDD teams were introduced in the Brazilian Customs in 2013, and improvements in the training process of dogs employed in anti-drug operations possibly impacted the quantity of narcotics seizures at CBPs in the subsequent years ( 16 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Detection dogs fighting transnational narcotraffic: performance and challenges under real customs scenario in Brazil

Jantorno,

Xavier,

Magalhães

et al. 2024

Front. Vet. Sci.

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Narcotic Detection Dogs (NDDs) are essential tools in the fight against drug trafficking, acting with high precision and improving efficiency at border posts. When trained efficiently, these dogs can detect a great variety of compounds, such as cocaine, marijuana and its derivatives, and synthetic drugs, among others. Most of the knowledge on canine detection processes and efficiency has been determined in experimentally controlled conditions, but narcotic seizures detected by dogs in realistic anti-drug operations have not yet been critically determined in a Country with continental dimensions such as Brazil. This study aimed to evaluate the data set concerning the performance, operations, efficiency, and success rate of NDDs used by the Brazilian Customs Authority (Aduana) in the fight against drug trafficking. Narcotic seizure rates increased in luggage and packages detected by NDDs working at border crossings from 2010 to 2020, with an estimated value of over US$ 2 billion in losses to the cocaine drug trafficking business. NDD units also increased most narcotic groups seized in the same period. The number of NDDs and anti-drug operations, and Customs Border Post (CBP) influenced the rates of drugs seized. NDDs provided an increase of 3,157 kg/animal of drugs seized for every new dog introduced into the inspection systems.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Detection dogs fighting transnational narcotraffic: performance and challenges under real customs scenario in Brazil

Jantorno,

Xavier,

Magalhães

et al. 2024

Front. Vet. Sci.

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“…The MD‐MCLP and MT‐MCLP, however, represent novel formulations with redefined decision variables, constraints with different terms and in different numbers, and in the case of the MT‐MCLP an entirely new set of constraints as compared to the classic MCLP. These models were tested using known country‐level estimates of primary cocaine movements (in tonnes) from the Consolidated Counterdrug Database (McSweeney, 2020) that were distributed among potential illicit trafficking node locations throughout Central America based on the most comprehensive, expert‐informed analysis available (Magliocca et al., 2022).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Outside of the classified environment (or the DTO itself) it is not known which specific nodes of trafficking activity are active at any given time or how those nodes are connected. To that end, the testbed network for this analysis was constructed using the only available authoritative data source and in consultation with practitioners, and the trafficking nodes are spatially allocated based on expert opinion of contextual factors (Magliocca, Summers, Curtin, McSweeney, & Price, 2022). These include measures associated with ease of movement, such as areas near roads, rivers, international ports, or other existing transportation infrastructure.…”

Section: Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

A family of models in support of realistic drug interdiction location decision‐making

Price

Curtin

Magliocca

et al. 2022

Transactions in GIS

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Long-standing federal drug-control policy aims to reduce the flow of narcotics into the USA, in part by intercepting cocaine shipments en route from South American production regions to North American consumer markets. Drug interdiction efforts operate over a large geographic area, containing complex drug trafficking networks in a dynamic environment. The extant interdiction models in the operations research and location science literature do not realistically model the objectives of and constraints on the interdiction forces, and therefore counterdrug organizations do not employ those models in their decisionmaking processes. This article presents three new models built on the maximal covering location problem (MCLP): the maximal covering location problem for interdiction (MCLP-I), multiple-demand maximal covering location problem (MD-MCLP), and multiple-type maximal covering location problem (MT-MCLP). These are novel formulations that permit multiple types of demands and facilities to be covered, and the utility of these formulations is demonstrated in the context of counterdrug operations. Optimal

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“…Ecological network construction simplifies ecological patches in a region into ecological nodes to build an ecological corridor and ecological network. Presently, ecological network construction methods include models such as graph theory [ 11 ], landscape suitability [ 12 ], minimum consumption distance [ 13 ], current theory [ 14 ], and thermodynamic law [ 15 ]. Commonly used software include ConeforSensinode, Circulitscape, Guidos, Zzonation, and Marxan.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Construction and Optimization of an Ecological Network in the Yellow River Source Region Based on MSPA and MCR Modelling

Liu

Chen

Yang

et al. 2023

IJERPH

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The source region of the Yellow River (SRYR) is an important water conservation and farming area in China. Under the dual influence of the natural environment and external pressure, ecological patches in the region are becoming increasingly fragmented, and landscape connectivity is continuously declining, which directly affect the landscape patch pattern and SRYR sustainable development. In the SRYR, morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) and landscape index methods were used to extract ecologically important sources. Based on the minimum cumulative resistance model (MCR), Linkage Mapper was used to generate a potential corridor, and then potential stepped stone patches were identified and extracted by the gravity model and betweenness centrality to build an optimal SRYR ecological network. The distribution of patches in the core area of the SRYR was fragmented, accounting for 80.53% of the total grassland area. The 10 ecological sources based on the landscape connectivity index and 15 important corridors identified based on the MCR model were mainly distributed in the central and eastern regions of the SRYR. Through betweenness centrality, 10 stepped stone patches were added, and 45 planned ecological corridors were obtained to optimize the SRYR ecological network and enhance east and west connectivity. Our research results can provide an important reference for the protection of the SRYR ecosystem, and have important guiding significance and practical value for ecological network construction in ecologically fragmented areas.

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Shifting landscape suitability for cocaine trafficking through Central America in response to counterdrug interdiction

Cited by 9 publications

References 43 publications

Detection dogs fighting transnational narcotraffic: performance and challenges under real customs scenario in Brazil

Detection dogs fighting transnational narcotraffic: performance and challenges under real customs scenario in Brazil

A family of models in support of realistic drug interdiction location decision‐making

Construction and Optimization of an Ecological Network in the Yellow River Source Region Based on MSPA and MCR Modelling

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