Federal authorities in Puerto Rico arrested three Dominicans, two men and a woman, in possession of 1,052 pounds (477 kilos) of cocaine, valued at about $ 20 million, and intended to enter the northwest coast of the United States. island in a boat.
The U.S. Coast Guard said in a press release on Wednesday that a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) aircraft saw a 45-mile boat last Saturday (83). kilometers) north of Aguadilla, on the northwest coast of Puerto Rico.
After the sighting, CBP officers alerted their Coast Guard colleagues, sending their boat “Paul Clark” from Miami (USA) and their helicopter “MH-60” to San Juan for reinforce in operation.
Also, a pair of Coast Guard helicopters were sent to assist in the intervention.
However, it was a crew aboard the Coast Guard helicopter “Jayhawk” that managed to stop the suspicious boat with the two men and the woman.
Authorities said one of the three detainees was injured, so the “MH-65 Dolphin” helicopter, based at Borinquen Air Base in Aguadilla, transported the person to a hospital in Puerto Rico to receive medical care.
Meanwhile, the crew of the boat “Paul Clark” was the one who discovered 18 bundles with cocaine that weighed 1,052 pounds (477 kilos).
This crew, in turn, took charge of the other two detainees.
Following the arrest, the Puerto Rico Department of Justice, along with the Federal Prosecutor’s Office on the island, are working on the detainees’ charges.
“The arrest of boats trafficking illicit drugs, such as the one that occurred last Saturday, is intrinsically dangerous and involves great skill and risk,” the Coast Guard commander in St. John, Captain Gregory, said in the statement. H. Magee.
Magee further asserted that these suspicious vessels pose “a major threat to the Caribbean region.”
He also stressed that the professionalism of some of the crews involved in this operation, together with the federal and local security forces, led to the arrest of the three traffickers, and contribute to the protection of the inhabitants of Puerto Rico and the Islands. US Virgins