On 26th June, Illicit Trade reported that the USCG had intercepted a garlic smugglers’ boat. A cutter had stopped a go-fast vessel that was found to be illegally smuggling more than 3.5 tonnes of garlic (worth around $30,000) from Haiti to the Dominican Republic. This was the largest seizure of its kind ever made by the US Coast Guard. Apparently, garlic smuggling is a rising problem across the globe and has had a negative impact on the agricultural industry in the Dominican Republic over the past few years. The Dominican government took the traffickers into custody to prepare them for prosecution. The article also says that the smuggling of garlic has become a major issue for economies in SE Asia and Europe, which have been targeted by gangs trafficking huge shipments of the plant from China, which was estimated to be responsible for 72.8% of global garlic exports in 2016.
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