- About 4.2 tons of cocaine with a street value of $125million was recovered
- Four men on board a boat from Guyana were detained and taken to the U.S. Virgin Islands to face criminal charges
(UK DAILY MAIL) – The U.S. Coast Guard seized 4.2 tons of cocaine in the largest maritime bust of the drug in the Atlantic for nearly 20 years.
Authorities seized the drugs from a boat off South America’s northeastern coast, the U.S. Coast Guard said Monday.
About 4.2 tons of cocaine, with an estimated street value of $125million, was confiscated from a fishing boat in international waters off Suriname, said Ricardo Castrodad, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard in San Juan.
It was the largest cocaine bust since 1999. Photos provided by the coast guard and US Drug Enforcement Agency show stacks of the white substance piled up after seizure.
The 70-foot long fishing vessel was stopped and searched by authorities on February 16 during a joint patrol by the crews of the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Joseph Napier and the coast guard of Trinidad and Tobago, Castrodad said.
The crew of the Napier, which is based in Port Canaveral, Florida, towed the fishing vessel, the Lady Michelle, to St. Vincent and four men on board from Guyana were taken to the U.S. Virgin Islands to face criminal charges. (Associated Press)
