Cocaine Worth $5 Million Seized in Vessel Off Puerto Rico Coast

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers, in coordination with the Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces for Rapid Action (FURA), seized cocaine worth more than $5 million after intercepting a vessel off the coast of Puerto Rico.
On September 1, CBP and FURA discovered 588 pounds of illicit narcotics stashed within a boat about 2 miles offshore, east of Domes Beach. The estimated street value of the seized drugs is thought to be $5.3 million, the CBP said.
The operation is part of ongoing CBP efforts to intercept and prevent the trafficking of illicit drugs into the country. More than 53,783 pounds of cocaine have been seized nationwide in the 2024 fiscal year, CBP data showed.
Authorities arrested two U.S. citizens following the drug seizure from the intercepted vessel.
CBP Caribbean Air and Marine detected a vessel heading east toward Domes Beach in Rincon, Puerto Rico. Ramey Border Patrol Sector Communications notified FURA to intercept the ship, CBP said.
FURA intercepted the boat and found one Yamaha 225 outboard engine, two male U.S. citizens, and several packages of cocaine. The agency transported the two individuals, the vessel and the narcotics to its maritime station in Añasco.
Ramey Sector Border Patrol agents arrested the two individuals and seized the cocaine, which was turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) Caribbean Corridor Strike Force following the drug bust.
The vessel and the arrested individuals were also turned over to the DEA for further inquiries and prosecution.
In August, Border Patrol agents made several cocaine seizures, including a haul worth $6 million found on an intercepted vessel off the coast of Puerto Rico.
Eleven bales of cocaine, weighing more than 660 pounds, were confiscated, while two citizens of the Dominican Republic were arrested. CBP said one of its K-9s alerted officers to the presence of the drugs.
On August 24, CBP officers at the Rio Grande port of entry on the southwest border found $3 million worth of cocaine hidden among a charcoal shipment.
Elsewhere, San Diego border agents uncovered half a million dollars’ worth of cocaine after a Border Patrol canine team sniffed out the drug haul.
Meanwhile, on the U.S.-Canada border, officers seized more than $4 million worth of cocaine hidden behind a “false wall” in a tractor trailer.
In 2023, there were 107,543 drug overdose deaths in the U.S., according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.
According to the DEA, Colombia produces an estimated 90 percent of the cocaine powder that arrives in the U.S.
As of July 2024, law enforcement officials at the U.S.-Mexico border have seized 24,152 pounds of cocaine around the southwest border in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
Almost half of the cocaine seized in the U.S. by CBP entered the country through the southern border.
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