San Juan, PR.– Department of Homeland Security (DHS) law enforcement authorities arrested two suspected Dominican smugglers Thursday seizing a 20-foot yola (boat) and 155.36 pounds of cocaine, with a street value of approximately $1.6 million dollars in Mayaguez, Puerto Rico.
The arrest followed a multi-agency at-sea interdiction in the Mona Passage. The crew of a Customs and Border Protection Caribbean Air and Marine Branch dash-8 aircraft detected two men aboard a suspicious yola traveling towards Puerto Rico during a law enforcement patrol Thursday afternoon, approximately 30 nautical miles southwest of Mona Island.
Coast Guard Watchstanders in Sector San Juan proceeded to notify and divert a Coast Guard Special Purpose Craft-Law Enforcement 33-foot response boat and the Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo to interdict the suspect vessel.
The passengers onboard the suspect vessel proceeded to throw bales of contraband overboard upon being detected by a Coast Guard law enforcement team.
The Coast Guard boarding team was able to recover all five bales from the water of which, two contained electronic gear and the other three contained 60 bricks of a suspected illegal contraband.
Dominican Watchdog Note: That was a serious week, so many police actions around the world against Dominican gangs and drug smugglers. One must think this is the main activity of the Dominican Republic today as the amount of cocaine scandals and money laundering cases keeps poping up daily!! And that's only those who got caught....., thousands probably go free!!!!
|