Dominican Republic seizes cocaine packets following joint naval operation with United States in southern Caribbean
Dominican forces recovered 377 packets of cocaine from a speedboat that was intercepted and destroyed by the United States Navy near Isla Beata, in an anti-narcotics mission that has generated international criticism.
Dominican Republic seizes cocaine packets following joint naval operation with United States in southern Caribbean
The anti-drugs agency of the Dominican Republic confirmed that its teams collected 377 cocaine packets from a speedboat that was sunk by warships of the United States in waters near the Dominican archipelago. The destruction of the vessel occurred approximately 148 kilometres south of Isla Beata, an island territory of the Caribbean nation.
According to representatives of the National Directorate for Drug Control, the speedboat would have transported around one tonne of narcotics. It is presumed that the drug traffickers intended to land on Dominican territory in order to subsequently transfer the illegal merchandise to United States markets, using the island as a transit point.
The operation involved coordination between the Dominican Navy and American personnel. In an official statement, local anti-drugs authorities described the procedure as the first binational effort between both countries aimed at combating narcoterrorism in the Caribbean region.
Washington's military deployment in the region began in August, when the administration of President Donald Trump sent eight combat vessels and a submarine with the stated objective of halting drug trafficking. Since then, the fleet has attacked three suspected speedboats, resulting in the deaths of more than twelve occupants in total.
These actions have provoked rejection among human rights defenders, who consider that the attacks constitute arbitrary executions. Additionally, lawmakers from the Democratic Party in the United States Senate pushed a motion to restrict similar future operations.
The United States executive maintains that at least two of the intercepted vessels set sail from Venezuelan coasts. White House officials have repeatedly accused the Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, of leading a drug trafficking network called the Cartel of the Suns. Maduro has denied such allegations and denounced the United States naval presence as an aggression against his nation.
_Source: PBS NewsHour_
Source: Google News DM — Crime