(Reuters/Fredy Builes)
A soldier from the Seventh Division of the Colombian National Army in front of a shack that served as a make-shift cocaine laboratory, after members of the unit burned it down during an operation to eradicate coca plants at a plantation in Yali, northeastern Antioquia, Colombia, September 3, 2014.

Cocaine seizures along Colombia's Pacific Coast have spiked so far this year, suggesting criminal groups and traffickers in the country have undertaken a significant shift that could mean trouble for the country in the future.

Authorities intercepted 34 tons of cocaine between January and May this year, 65% more than was seized over the same period last year, according to Colprensa.

Moreover, naval forces in the region seized 15 tons of cocaine during the first five months of this year, more than double the 6.1 they seized during the same period in 2015.

Rear Admiral Pablo Guevara, the commander of Colombia's Pacific naval forces, attributed the increased interdictions to better intelligence and technology, but he did admit that illicit activity in the area had increased, as well.

"There is an increase in illicit cultivation in Putumayo and the Pacific, because aerial spraying is suspended, as is manual eradication," Guervara said.

Colombian authorities have also captured a significant number of narco submarines. According to Colprensa, the Colombian navy reported seizing five submarines, two of which were loaded with more than a ton of cocaine, and the others ready to be put into operation.

According to Mexican newspaper El Universal, Colombian forces have captured seven narco subs through the end of May this year. Two of them left the southwest department of Nariño and were caught near the Galapagos Islands.

(REUTERS/Jaime Saldarriaga)
A man walks between a makeshift fiberglass submarine used to smuggle cocaine used by Colombian drug traffickers, in Buenaventura June 24, 2008.

The others were captured in various stages of completion in improvised shipyards.

On May 20, for the first time in Colombian history, a manned submersible carrying a ton of cocaine was detected and captured near the Sanquianga national park in southwest Colombia.

Authorities confirmed it was heading to Central America, a major transshipment point for Colombian cocaine.

'Those are huge amounts of money'

While better policing may have driven the spike in drug seizures, as Insight Crime notes, it's likely that criminal groups have been more active in the Pacific region — and thus more exposed to police — due to the "balloon effect," or the movement away from areas facing heavy law-enforcement activity.