Federal and Puerto Rican authorities arrested three Venezuelans this Saturday, after 1,384 kilos of cocaine valued at $32 million dollars were seized from them on the eastern coast of Puerto Rico.
Agents from Air and Maritime Operations (AMO), the Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), along with other federal and Puerto Rican agencies, carried out the operation near an exclusive residential area located in Palmas del Mar, in Humacao.
According to CBP through a press release, it was a crew of an AMO vessel that sighted a suspicious vessel, or yola built of wood and with its lights off, sailing at high speed east of the island.
The AMO ship continued on its course trying to intercept the yawl, but lost sight of it, so they requested assistance from a US Coast Guard Bull-17 aircraft.
The coast guard aircraft managed to locate the suspicious vessel 16 kilometers from the Humacao coast, and maintained surveillance to help the AMO marine unit, in addition to others from the United Forces for Rapid Action and Intelligence of the Puerto Rico Police, who joined in the operation.
Subsequently, the agents intercepted the yola near the Palmas del Mar resort, where there were three men who said they were Venezuelan nationals, and 40 packages of cocaine were seized from them, the EFE news agency reported.
Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration have been given custody of the contraband and the three suspects to stand trial while the investigation proceeds.
The arrest of the three Venezuelans corresponds to an operation against drug trafficking on the island, where last Thursday AMO agents intercepted a boat near Mona Island, west of Puerto Rico, and arrested two Dominicans with a shipment of cocaine. It was valued at $2.9 million.
With information from the EFE agency