U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), working jointly with the Caribbean Corridor Strike Force (CCSF) partners, seized 2,325 pounds of cocaine Oct. 13, from a go-fast vessel near Las Paulinas Beach in the municipality of Luquillo.
The cocaine has an estimated street value of $29.6 million.
On Oct. 13, ICE’s Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST) agents, along with CCSF partners responded to Las Paulinas Beach to investigate the landing of an abandoned go-fast vessel with multiple bales of what appeared to be contraband.
A field test yielded positive results to cocaine. In collaboration with the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers they recovered 48 bales of cocaine weighing 1057 kilograms with an approximate street value of more than $29 million. HSI Evidence Recovery Team (ERT) responded and assisted BEST and CCSF officers in the evidence collection.
The HSI investigation is ongoing.
The CCSF is an initiative of the U.S. Attorney’s Office created to disrupt and dismantle major drug trafficking organizations operating in the Caribbean.
It is part of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) that investigates South American-based drug trafficking organizations responsible for the movement of multi-kilogram quantities of narcotics using the Caribbean as a transshipment point for further distribution to the United States.
The initiative is composed of HSI, the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Coast Guard, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico and Puerto Rico Police Department’s (PRPD) Joint Forces for Rapid Action.
