There is no evidence of drug processing or refining laboratories in Venezuela. Extensive drug cultivations on the Colombian side of the Sierra de Perija and the lack of coordinated, cross-border operations by Colombian and Venezuelan law enforcement bodies provide opportunities for Colombian traffickers to use Venezuelan soil for illicit cultivation. In 1995, the GOV hosted one Colombian observer on Thrush eradication flights along the border, but Colombia declined GOV offers to cooperate on cross-border eradication flights. Cocaine and, increasingly, heroin enter Venezuela from Colombia overland at a number of border crossing points. Traffickers conceal large shipments of drugs in containers of legitimate cargo.
Couriers smuggle smaller amounts.
Drugs are then transshipped to the U.S. and Europe by air cargo and sea freighters. Colombian traffickers have established false companies and employ innovative methods of concealment, such as insertion into legitimate products. In 1995, Venezuelan and U.S. law enforcement agencies reported a large increase in heroin smuggling through Venezuela, primarily concealed in suitcases and body carriers on international airline flights. Venezuelan airspace is frequently violated by drug traffickers who overfly the country to make airdrops of drugs at sea in the Eastern Caribbean. The GOV presently lacks an air interdiction strategy, although it has permitted USG aircraft to enter Venezuelan airspace while tracking suspect aircraft under the terms of the bilateral aerial hot pursuit agreement.