Photos: USCG Offloads Smuggling Suspects, $8.5M in Cocaine in San Juan

Last week, the Coast Guard cutters Mohawk and Charles David Jr. delivered two suspected smugglers and $8.5 million in seized cocaine to federal agents at Coast Guard Base San Juan, completing a successful interdiction operation in the Caribbean Sea.

The operation began on the afternoon of January 24, when the aircrew of a maritime patrol aircraft spotted a suspicious go-fast boat about 200 nm to the south of the Dominican Republic.

The cutter Mohawk diverted to the scene and deployed her small boat to intercept the go-fast vessel. Mohawk’s boarding team found and recovered nine bales of contraband, which weighed a combined total of more than 300 kilos. The substance tested positive for cocaine.

Images courtesy USCG

Mohawk took aboard the narcotics and the two suspects from the go-fast vessel, who both claimed to be citizens of the Dominican Republic. The cutter Charles David Jr. soon met up with the Mohawk and took on the two suspected smugglers and a sample of the contraband; she delivered them to San Juan, where federal agents took them into custody.

“This successful interdiction is a reflection of the seamless team work and the unwavering resolve between the Coast Guard, our federal law enforcement and Department of Defense partners to protect the nation’s southernmost maritime border against narcotrafficking threats,” said Cmdr. James L. Jarnac, Coast Guard cutter Mohawk's commanding officer. “The strength of our joint collaboration and partnerships is key to a safer Caribbean region and disrupting transnational criminal organization activities through the interdiction of drug smuggling vessel’s in the maritime domain.”