Air and Marine Operations Officers (AMOs) of the Federal Bureau of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) intercepted 204 pounds of cocaine released from a three-occupant boat near Culebra, an island town on Thursday night. Puerto Rico, in the east, and, in another operation, the local police confiscated 217 kilos, in Manatí, in the north.
The value of the drug confiscated in Manatí is $ 6,727,000 and the estimated value of the one intercepted in the east is $ 5.5 million.
“Our surveillance and sustained efforts continue to produce significant results,” Johnny Morales, director of Air and Maritime Operations at CBP’s air and sea branch in the Caribbean, said in a statement released Saturday.
“We take advantage of our advanced aeronautical and maritime capabilities to detect and intercept illegal incursions into our coastal borders,” he added.
On the night of January 7, the crew of a Puerto Rican National Guard (PRNG) helicopter working in conjunction with the AMO Marine Units of Fajardo and Santo Tomas detected and intercepted a “yol” type vessel. at 30 feet (between 7.62 meters and 9.14 meters), with three people on board near the nearby island of Culebrita.
A total of seven bundles were recovered from the water.
A doctor, a marine interdiction technician, provided assistance to one of the ship’s occupants who was injured during the operation.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) assumed custody of the contraband and the people, for investigation and prosecution.
With approximately 1,800 federal agents and mission support personnel, 240 aircraft, and 300 marine vessels operating in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, AMO carries out its mission in the air and sea environments inside and outside of the frontier, and within the interior of the nation.
Meanwhile, Puerto Rican police reported that this morning, officers attached to the United Forces Rapid Action Force (FURA) unit in the Vega Baixa area arrested two people, “with non-existent immigration status.” and occupied a “large number of controlled substances,” events that occurred on the beach Els Tubs de Manatí, in the north of the island.
It was reported that while the agents were monitoring the sector, they detected two people in a boat, made at home with fiberglass and wood, landing on the beach 10 bundles, which contained 217 kilos of cocaine, with an estimated value of $ 6,727,000.
The Caribbean Corridor Strike Force agency assumed jurisdiction over the case