During a television interview this morning, Defense Minister René Francis Merino Monroy confirmed that the total number of drugs seized between January 1 and February 20, 2022 has already surpassed the total number of seizures made in 2020.
“After observing the behavior of this fight against drug trafficking, we can see that in 2019, 798 kilos of drugs were seized, not even a ton; the year 2020 was 2.9 tons (2,936 kilos); in 2021, 11.8 tons of cocaine alone were seized, in addition to that, the largest seizure of the Territorial Control Plan to date was made, and the second largest to date in the entire history of the country, which was 4,186 kilograms, where two LPV were seized; and in the year to this day, we have seized 2.9 tons (2,986 kilos) of different types of drugs, which already exceeds the seizure of the year 2020” —said the minister.
He added that the issue of the fight against drug trafficking is one of the main axes of the Territorial Control Plan and is one of the crimes on which the President, Nayib Bukele, has placed a lot of emphasis, ordering the articulation of joint work between the police, prosecutor’s office, and armed forces.
He stated that the main expectation for this year is to exceed the drug seizures made in 2021.
“Now the challenge is to overcome what was done last year, as with other issues that are affecting the population, such as the case of homicides, the figures that have been achieved have been historic, but we are surpassing them more and more. And that is what it is about improving each record” — explained Merino Monroy.
He added that, to date, during the administration of President Nayib Bukele, 40 foreigners and more than 1,000 Salvadorans have been captured for crimes related to drug trafficking.