Cocaine worth $33 million was seized by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations (AMO) after they intercepted a vessel off the coast of Puerto Rico.
According to the Associated Press, smugglers were trying to bring the drug into the island of Vieques. More than 3,600 pounds were confiscated after the people on board beached the boat and fled.
Newsweek noted that a team of AMO Marine Interdiction agents spotted the vessel operating without lights near the island on Wednesday morning.
When the agents activated their blue lights and siren, the people on the boat promptly beached it. Sixty bales of cocaine were found.
"Through the dedication and precision of our CBP Air and Marine Operations agents, over 3,000 pounds of cocaine were intercepted, effectively stopping these harmful drugs from reaching our communities,” Christopher Hunter, Director of Air and Marine Operations in the Caribbean, said in a statement.
“This operation highlights our relentless commitment to border security and the protection of our citizens from the dangers of illicit narcotics,” he added.
The same day, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Puerto Rico police seized more than $5 million worth of cocaine aboard a boat near the town of Rincon, Newsweek pointed out.
Eleven bales of cocaine, weighing more than 660 pounds, were confiscated, while two citizens of the Dominican Republic were arrested, the outlet said.
Last year, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor reeled in 70 pounds of cocaine, estimated to be worth more than $1 million, while on a fishing trip in the Florida Keys, which Townhall covered.
"My younger brother saw some debris in the water, and so we went over there because, quite often, if you fish, the smaller fish will go under any kind of shade they can get. That attracts the larger fish, like triple tail," she said. "We thought it was shade as opposed to something shady. But, you know, the closer we got and once I saw the rip in it and see the tightly wrapped packages, I was like definitely that's a bale of cocaine."
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