The Coast Guard apprehended five smugglers in the Caribbean Sea with approximately 215 pounds of cocaine July 2.
The wholesale value of the cocaine is estimated around $3.2 million, according to the Coast Guard. The drugs were transferred to San Juan on Saturday with two Guyanese and three Jamaican smugglers along in a Guyanese finishing vessel in the Caribbean Sea.
On the afternoon of July 2 while on a routine patrol the crew of the Dauntless detected a suspicious fishing vessel named Chrispoph that was approximately 170 miles south of the Dominic Republic.
The Coast Guard contacted the Guyanese government, and authorized the Coast Guard to stop and search the vessel.
The Dauntless boarding team did a preliminary search of the fishing vessel, where they located five bales carrying 98 packages of suspected contraband.
While on board, the boarding team received information from the master that the vessel was taking on water due to a broken shaft seal.
Despite the efforts of the Dauntless boarding team that had multiple pumps to keep the water out of the vessel, the flooding caused the vessel to sink.
The Dauntless transferred the cocaine and accused smugglers to the William Trump to be transported to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they were taken into custody by the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force.
The Dauntless is a 210-foot medium endurance cutter home ported in Galveston. The ship and crew help execute and search rescue missions in support of Coast Guard operations throughout the Western Hemisphere.
If the boat wasn’t in distress chances are this would not have become a story. Usually when a boat is taking in water your first option is to throw cargo overboard but I guess they couldn’t bear to part with this precious cargo that now have them all in jail. SMH
ah I wonder what dem do with all the drugs them seize????
I’m sure ah dat dem use as bait when dem ah do dem undercover sting operation. Cuz dem caan tell me ah destroy dem destroy dem drugs deh………
Dem always tek some out of it
yuh mean if them sell it right back to the cartel? Yes. what a stress.
They dig a hole in the mountain top of PR and burn it. A couple of months ago a PR government official was jailed with tampering.
The smugglers will end up serving time while the big boys behind the scenes will write this off as an acceptable loss. I wonder how many big businesses in the Caribbean, with ‘respectable’ CEOs moralising about everything wrong in Jamaica and other countries, have been built on drugs and blood money.
When you hear some of these big bosses come on Profile every week and talk about how hard they had to work, you have to shake your head and wonder if you are in a parallel reality.
Majority of these successful business men in the Caribbean gain they wealth from the drug business. They weren’t greedy and knew how to make the transition over to legitimate businesses. They were also very intelligent and respected individuals.