PONCE, Puerto Rico – US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) agents seized Monday 2,351 pounds (1006.5 kilos) of cocaine from a vessel attempting to reach the coast in southern Puerto Rico. The estimated street value of the contraband is $23 million.
“Our collaboration with fellow law enforcement and our maritime domain awareness allows us to be successful interdicting these smuggling attemtps,” stated Augusto Reyes, Director of Air and Marine Operations in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. “Air and Marine Operations agents are determined to detect and intercept any attempts to smuggle contraband to our shores.”
On the evening of February 27, the crew of an AMO Jacksonville-based P-3 detected a vessel with two outboard engines and approximately three persons on board moving north towards the southern coast of the island.
The P-3 crew-maintained surveillance of the vessel assisting Ponce based Coastal Interceptor Vessel crews to interdict the suspect vessel south of the island of Caja de Muerto.
Inside the vessel agents found total of 37 bales of contraband and arrested two non-citizens from the Dominican Republic and one non-citizen from Venezuela.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) took custody of the contraband and the individuals for investigation and prosecution.
AMO operates the P-3 AEW aircraft to perform a wide variety of operational missions, especially those that require long station time overhead, hemispheric range, and inclement weather and environmental conditions.
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