Cuban authorities stopped two illicit operations at the country’s airports over the weekend: an attempt to remove more than 120 kilograms of protected marine species, in Holguín; and traffic dope hidden in food, in the Havana air terminal.
At the “Frank País” International Airport in Holguín, Customs officers seized 121 kilograms of illegal marine products that a couple was trying to take out of the country bound for the United States. according to review Cubadebate.
The shipment included 65 kilograms of hawksbill turtle meat, a critically endangered species protected by the CITES Convention, in addition to 42 kilograms of crab mass and four kilograms of lobster tail, according to the National Office for Environmental Regulation and Safety (ORSA), cited by the media.
The report indicates that both those involved, residents of the municipality of Puerto Padre, were detained and placed at the disposal of the National Revolutionary Police (PNR).
The man, identified as a repeat offender in crimes against nature, received a fine of 22 thousand pesos, while the woman was fined 10 thousand pesos, according to ORSA. Likewise, the application of figures from the Penal Code is evaluated for the environmental damage caused, he adds. Cubadebate.
Marijuana in cereal packages
At the same time, at the José Martí International Airport in Havana, an international drug trafficking operation was detected, as part of the joint work between the General Customs of the Republic and the Anti-Drug Body of the Ministry of the Interior.
Drug trafficking operation detected at the Havana airport, the marijuana was hidden in a package of cereals and food. The unity between #CubaCustoms and the Anti-Drug Body our greatest strength, together with the preparation and rigor in this fight #AgainstDrugsYouWin pic.twitter.com/7rsZky1lbI
— Wiliam Pérez González (@vicejefeagr) January 26, 2026
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Last November, Customs also seized two kilograms of methamphetamine at José Martí Airport. The operation allowed them to find the drugs that were hidden in six baseball batsas reported then by Pérez González in X. The operations involved 4 passengers.
The Cuban Government has recently organized national exercises and territorial, which include police operations, exemplary trials and educational and preventive actions in schools and communities.
In addition, it recently inaugurated the National Drug Observatory, an institution that seeks to consolidate surveillance, prevention and research on this issue.
Drug consumption in Cuba has visibly increased, especially among the young and adolescent population, and has added to the list of social problems that Cuban society is accumulating in the midst of the serious crisis that is eating away at it.
