9 suspected smugglers nabbed in Caribbean waters
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (CMC) – United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) says British Royal Navy and US law enforcement partners seized 13,086 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of US$46.2 million, following the interdiction of two separate drug smuggling events in the Caribbean Sea.
Nine suspected smugglers were also detained in the operations which took place on January 24 and January 30.
In the first interdiction, two suspicious go-fast vessels, about 74 nautical miles south of St Croix, US Virgin Islands, were apprehended.
Seven men were nabbed and 42 bales of suspected contraband were seized.
In the second interdiction, a marine patrol aircraft detected a northbound target of interest, southeast of Isla Beata, Dominican Republic.
Two men aboard a go-fast were detained after 13 bales of suspected contraband were discovered.
CBP said it is part of the Caribbean Border Strike Force, an initiative of the US Attorney’s Office created to disrupt and dismantle major drug trafficking organisations operating in the Caribbean.
