Aug. 6 (UPI) — Three people were arrested after a major drug bust by U.S. authorities on Wednesday off Puerto Rico turned up some 62 large bales filled with thousand of pounds of cocaine worth roughly $30 million.
Officials at U.S. Custom and Border Protection said in a statement its Air and Marine Operations, working with the Joint Forces for Rapid Action unit of Puerto Rico’s police agency, nabbed a yola-type vessel with three non-U.S. citizens. The boat carried the 62 bales of cocaine on its way to Cabo Rojo to the island’s the southwest, officials said.
The three unidentified individuals are from Colombia and Panama, according to U.S. officials.
On Wednesday, AMO’s Caribbean Air and Marine Operations detected a vessel navigating north in the morning hours.
The team intercepted the alleged trafficking boat roughly 2 nautical miles from the coast of Cabo Rojo, where U.S. agents seized 60 “extra-large” and 2 “large” bales filled with what was confirmed to be cocaine.
Agents arrested one Panamanian and 2 Colombian nationals who lacked proper documentation to either be in or enter U.S. territory or waters. CBP did not state if the detainees were male or female.
The 60 bales contained more than 3,900 pounds of cocaine with its estimated street value at approximately $30.4 million, officials said.
Wednesday’s sea-faring cocaine bust off Puerto Rico, while large, was smaller by comparison to the 37,000 pounds worth around $275 million grabbed in February by the U.S. Coast Guard near San Diego.
In June, CBP fell upon 18 pounds of cocaine valued over $4 million in a similar incident when agents seized a vessel near Rincon.
