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Dominican Republic narcotics officers find nearly 250 kilograms of cocaine worth $ 9.9 million hidden inside speedboat panels after high-speed chase: drug traffickers run away after abandoning ship on the beach
- At least 248 kilograms of cocaine were found inside a speedboat on the southwest coast of the Dominican Republic on Tuesday
- The shipment has an estimated market value of $ 9.9 million
- The discovery was made after a group of suspected traffickers abandoned the ship on the shores of a beach in Barahona province.
- Smugglers crossed the Atlantic from South America and pursued military and narcotics agents before reaching the town of Enriquillo.
- The suspected traffickers were not arrested on Wednesday afternoon
Agents from the Dominican Republic chasing suspected drug traffickers on the high seas discovered a shipment of $ 9.9 million of cocaine concealed under the speedboat panels after the ship was ditched on a beach.
The National Directorate of Drug Control said in a statement Wednesday that security forces had spotted the craft approaching the Caribbean nation after crossing from South America via the Atlantic Ocean.
Narcotics officers and the military pursued the traffickers on Tuesday and ordered them to stop, but the drug traffickers reached the shores of a beach in Enriquillo, a town in southwestern Barahona province. .
An officer with the National Directorate of Drug Control in Barahona, Dominican Republic, inspects a speedboat on Tuesday after it was abandoned by smugglers who had crossed the Atlantic from South America with a cargo of 248 packages of cocaine, each containing at least one kilogram. No arrests were made on Wednesday
The Dominican Republic’s National Directorate of Drug Control revealed on Wednesday that officers were able to remove 248 packages of cocaine left inside a speedboat on the shores of a beach in Enriquillo, a town in the province. of Barahona, in the southwest.
The drug traffickers abandoned the speedboat and fled without being caught, but authorities identified the suspects as Dominican and foreign nationals.
Officers searched the vessel and found approximately 248 packages containing at least one kilogram of cocaine, a piece that lay under the single-engine watercraft.
“Normally after every operation when a ship is encountered on the high seas or on the court, this type of inspection is done so that we can rule out (the presence of narcotics),†said Navy spokesperson on Captain José Vásquez at a press conference. . “These criminal networks think they are going to laugh at the authorities.
Officers assigned to the Dominican Republic’s National Directorate of Drug Control remove a sign from a speedboat before removing a cargo of cocaine that had been shipped from South America
Shipment of cocaine seized by the Dominican Republic’s National Drug Control Authority has a market value of $ 9.9 million
The operation was the latest in a series of busts carried out by Dominican authorities in an attempt to thwart local drug trafficking organizations which are teaming up with major networks in Mexico and South America to flood the United States. , Europe and Puerto Rico of cocaine.
A South American narco jet crashed in Oviedo, a town in the southwestern province of Perdenales, on September 29 after the Cessna pilot refused the army’s order to land.
Authorities on the ground recovered a total of 288.87 kilograms of cocaine from 277 plastic-wrapped packages.
According to the DEA’s 2020 National Drug Threat Assessment, “Dominican TCOs (Transnational Criminal Organizations) are working with foreign suppliers to ship cocaine, heroin and fentanyl directly to the northeast of the country. Mexico, Colombia and the Dominican Republic. “
The report also states that “Dominican traffickers are taking advantage of Puerto Rico’s status as US territory to facilitate commercial air transport of cocaine to the United States, primarily to northeast and southern Florida.”
“Dominican TCOs typically use small maritime vessels to transport cocaine and heroin from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico via the 80 mile stretch of sea known as the Mona Passage, and thereafter these traffickers use the mail, commercial transportation services and maritime vessels to transport illegal drugs to the United States, â€the DEA found.
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