The U.S. Coast Guard reported on Tuesday that it seized 489 pounds of cocaine, valued at about $5.5 million, from a suspected drug-smuggling vessel in the Atlantic Ocean north of Isabela, Puerto Rico. Three men were detained. According to the agency, the interdiction took place on October 10, when the crew of an HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft from Air Station Miami spotted a suspicious fast boat during a routine patrol.
Coast Guard Sector San Juan personnel sent the cutter Winslow Griesser to the location, where its crew intercepted the boat, seized the drugs and detained the three men aboard. Authorities identified the detainees as two citizens of the Dominican Republic and one of China but did not release their names. On Monday, the Winslow Griesser crew offloaded the cocaine at Coast Guard Base San Juan and handed custody of the three men to federal agents of the San Juan Homeland Security Task Force to continue the investigation.
Commander Matthew Romano, Sector San Juan response chief, said in written remarks that the operation shows the capability of the operational teams and partners working to intercept narcotics before they reach U.S. shores. The Coast Guard said the operation is part of a federal initiative bringing together law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, DEA, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), CBP and the federal prosecutors’ offices of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, to investigate drug trafficking, smuggling and other transnational crimes.