NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC) — Two Jamaicans have been confirmed dead by Haitian authorities who said they intercepted a rowboat “heavily laden with drugs” resulting in the drowning death of the men, the undisclosed death of another and the arrest of a Bahamian.

Confirming the deaths, the counter narcotic unit of the Haitian National Police (HNP) said that “under the leadership of Acting Superintendent Jeir Pierre, the Port-de-Paix police and prosecutor’s office intercepted a row boat heavily laden with drugs…The result: two Jamaicans drowned, one body in the morgue and a Bahamian in custody.”

The Haitian authorities added that they seized more than 90 kilos of cocaine from the boat and said several other suspicious boats are believed to still be at large.

The Haitians described the operations as “a first in the history of the northwest”.

In the meantime, the Bahamas government said it is awaiting official confirmation regarding the incident but noted that unconfirmed reports of the killings are that the men “while on a speed boat, were shot at from unknown persons, which resulted in two of the males being killed and another hospitalised”.