SEE ALSO:<\/strong> The Cocaine Pipeline to Europe<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Since then, Odos and Fauret have denied they had any knowledge about the contents of the luggage on board, arguing that it wasn\u2019t their responsibility to know. However, French authorities presented evidence that suggested the pilots had some knowledge about the cocaine on board this and other flights they flew from the Dominican Republic to key transit points in the cocaine pipeline to Europe, such as Ecuador.<\/p>\n The docuseries offers a window into the human side of drug trafficking. It follows several key moments in the judicial process against those implicates, including the voices of both them and the authorities leading the investigation.\u00a0<\/p>\n InSight Crime Analysis<\/p>\n Cocaine trafficking from Latin America to Europe has been on the rise in recent years, even surpassing the US cocaine market, according to the US State Department\u2019s latest<\/a> International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR). This has come alongside a greater diversification of the actors throughout the trafficking chain and their modus operandi.<\/p>\n Beyond pilots, the cocaine supply chain today involves intermediaries and various interconnected criminal networks that sustain a multimillion-dollar cocaine market in Europe.<\/p>\n The cocaine pipeline to Europe begins in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, the world\u2019s leading cocaine-producing countries. In the Cocaine Air case, the drugs likely originated in Colombia, the South American nation nearest to the coast of the Dominican Republic that has seen a substantial increase in cocaine production since 2013. Production there hit a new record<\/a> in 2023, with 2,664 metric tons of cocaine.<\/p>\n SEE ALSO:<\/strong> Cocaine Brokers: The \u2018Ndrangheta in South America<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Cocaine is also sent to<\/a> Europe from transit countries, which sometimes raise less suspicion among European authorities. The Dominican Republic is a major transit point<\/a> for cocaine arriving via speed and fishing boats from the northern coasts of Colombia and Venezuela. Once in the Caribbean country, the drugs depart<\/a> in containers, narco-submarines<\/a>, and executive flights \u2013 as was the case of Cocaine Air \u2013 among other means.<\/p>\n Although the new series focuses on the pilots, and even the executive airline, there are some key players in the drug trafficking chain who also deserve special attention: the intermediaries known as \u201cbrokers.\u201d They connect different stages of the drug trafficking chain and foster trust among a wide variety of actors involved.<\/p>\n Douglas Farah, president of IBI Consultants, a consulting agency specializing in security in Latin America, told InSight Crime that there are three types of brokers. First, there are logistics brokers who perform local tasks for small networks. Second, there are facilitators who connect small markets with larger ones. Finally, there are hidden facilitators who provide services to various drug trafficking structures on a global scale.<\/p>\n\n
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