Oceania is emerging as a high-value target for international drug syndicates, with traffickers using sophisticated technology and new maritime routes to move cocaine across the Pacific.

Speaking at the Pacific Transnational Crime Summit in nadi last week, Colombian Navy Captain Nicolas Sandoval warned that drug cartels are no longer operating through rigid structures. Instead, they have evolved into flexible criminal networks that adapt quickly, shift routes and stay ahead of enforcement efforts.

Sandoval warned that despite rising global drug seizures, cocaine supply continues to grow as criminal networks expand into Europe, Africa and Asia while adapting faster than authorities can respond.

“And we have detected so far, obviously, the use of fishing vessels, the contamination of containers, semi-submersibles that use all of them here in the Pacific Ocean”

Sandoval revealed Colombian authorities detected a fully functional unmanned semi-submersible last year operating with Starlink internet technology, underscoring how drug trafficking networks are adopting more advanced systems to move illicit cargo across oceans.

“We think that they are obviously trying to make some tests regarding this new kind of technology, but for us it was obviously very shocking that how obviously the illicit commerce is using illicit objective”

Assistant Superintendent of Police Savenaca Tuivaga warned that international syndicates see Pacific nations as prime targets, exploiting vast ocean borders, remote waters, and various transport routes to traffic illicit goods.

He cited Fiji’s recent Vatia drug bust, involving four Ecuadorian nationals, as a prime example of how these networks operate.

“We look at the best example of the Vatia case that we had in Fiji. At the same time that we had the Vatia, our friends from French Polynesia also did interdictions at sea. So that also identifies that there are a lot of drugs that are coming through the Pacific. And imagine those that are not being identified”

As traffickers adopt more advanced methods to move illicit cargo across the Pacific, regional authorities are strengthening their response. The Pacific Transnational Crime Summit held last week sent a clear message to drug cartels and smuggling networks — the Pacific is uniting and fighting back against organised crime.