A single engine marine vessel, carrying approximately 159 pounds of cocaine, was recently intercepted north of Arecibo, Puerto Rico by officers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) and the Puerto Rico Police Department.
The incident began as a CBP DHC-8 Maritime Patrol Aircraft detected a single engine vessel traveling without navigational lights approximately 30 nautical miles off the coast of Arecibo. Three individuals were spotted on board.
After the initial discovery, the DHC-8 crew coordinated its location with the U.S. Coast Guard and the Puerto Rico Police Department’s Fuerzas Unidas de Rapida Acción (FURA) marine units to intercept.
Once a FURA marine unit approached the suspect vessel, the three occupants on board began to dump a series of packages into the water. After a short chase, Drug Enforcement Agency special agents took control of the suspect vessel and arrested the three men aboard. Each individual was subsequently charged with narcotics trafficking.
The seized narcotics carried a street value of approximately $2.1 million.
“The US Drug Enforcement Administration works closely with our federal and local partners in Puerto Rico to share intelligence, coordinate investigative operations, and disrupt the flow of drugs through our territory,” CBP Special Agent in Charge Matthew Donahue said. “Our primary objective is to help build safe and resilient communities for the citizens of the United States and we will prevail.”
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of the nation’s borders at and between the official ports of entry.