AGUADILLA, Puerto Rico – US Border Patrol agents, with the support of the US Coast Guard, seized Saturday 157 pounds (71 Kilos) of cocaine and arrested two illegal aliens from the Dominican Republic near Villa Montana in Isabela. The estimated value of the seized cocaine is $1.9 million.
“We continue to disrupt and apprehend smugglers that attempt to smuggle people and narcotics across our borders,” indicated Xavier Morales, Chief Patrol Agent for the Ramey Sector. ”
On January 23, a US Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry Maritime Patrol Aircraft located a suspect vessel, continued aerial surveillance and vectored Border Patrol Agents to the exact location where the vessel made landfall.
Agents found two men on board a 21-feet “yola” type vessel, white and blue in color, with a 40 HP engine. The two individuals claimed to be nationals of the Dominican Republic.
Agents recovered 58 bricks of cocaine and an additional 40HP engine. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) assumed custody the contraband and the illegal aliens for investigation and prosecution.
Last week, Ramey Border Patrol Agents and local law enforcement seized 625 pounds of cocaine from vehicles near Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.
The Ramey Sector is one of the twenty-one Sectors spread out across the United States. Encompassing the US territorial islands of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, it is the only Border Patrol Sector located outside the continental United States. The Sector’s entire border area is made up of coastline and its area of responsibility is made up of some 6,000 square miles of land and water area, including the twelve-mile band of territorial water surrounding the Islands.