Federal law enforcement officials say cocaine trafficking is surging amid the opioid crisis, citing recent record-setting seizures of the stimulant at sea and U.S. ports.

With so much attention focused on deadly narcotics in recent years, cocaine seemingly waned in the American consciousness despite its high profitability for drug cartels. The Drug Enforcement Administration warns that the Colombian cocaine trade is growing and spreading, with the U.S. serving as a way station for markets abroad.

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“Production is through the roof, and so is global demand,” said Ray Donovan, special agent in charge of the DEA’s New York City office. “The Colombian networking is expanding throughout the world to meet growing markets in Europe, Australia, Russia and Asia. It’s on our radar everywhere.”

U.S. officials and drug trafficking analysts say the issue continues to be Colombia’s inability to curb the cultivation of the coca plant, which makes it the world’s leading supplier of cocaine.

The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime’s most recent report notes a 31 percent increase in cocaine production in Colombia, where more land is being used to grow coca and where coca crops are a third more productive than they were in 2012. Seizures of the drug have hit a record-setting pace, officials say. . . .

“The United States can expect continuing increases in domestic supply levels and cocaine abuse, through at least 2019,” the DEA stated in its 2018 National Drug Threat Assessment, released in November. “With surging coca cultivation and cocaine production in Colombia, northbound cocaine flows are expected to continue at current levels, although new trafficking patterns may develop due to law enforcement activities in the Eastern Pacific.  …

“Due to the ongoing proliferation of fentanyl and other synthetic opioids into the expanded domestic cocaine supply, cocaine-related deaths will continue to rise through 2018, potentially reaching epidemic levels in the next few years,” the most recent DEA assessment states.

Excerpted from The Washington Times, Dan Boylan reporting.