NewsWhore
10-02-2008, 04:00 PM
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Caribbean Corridor Initiative (CCI) have announced the seizure of approximately 1,930 kilograms of cocaine with a street market value of US$58 million on board the Panamanian-flagged vessel Megan Star.
The Dominican National Drug Control Department (DNCD) provided "significant" assistance leading to the confiscation. DNCD spokesman Roberto Lebron said that the ship had left Santo Domingo's Sans Souci dock and was suspected by local authorities that tipped off the DEA. The 10-member crew of the ship, composed of nationals from Costa Rica, Ecuador, India, Nicaragua and Spain, was arrested at sea after it was ascertained that it loaded a shipment in Colombia. The CCI monitored the route taken by the boat that was intercepted by a US Coast Guard law enforcement detachment on board the USS Farragut Navy vessel in international waters near Puerto Rico.
The successful seizure was part of the Caribbean Corridor Initiative, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area project that investigates South American-based drug trafficking organizations responsible for the movement of multi-kilogram quantities of narcotics, utilizing the Caribbean as a trans-shipment point for further distribution to the United States. The members of this inter-agency group are: the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and US Coast Guard (USCG). For more information, see
www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2008/carib100208.html (http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2008/carib100208.html)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#10)
The Dominican National Drug Control Department (DNCD) provided "significant" assistance leading to the confiscation. DNCD spokesman Roberto Lebron said that the ship had left Santo Domingo's Sans Souci dock and was suspected by local authorities that tipped off the DEA. The 10-member crew of the ship, composed of nationals from Costa Rica, Ecuador, India, Nicaragua and Spain, was arrested at sea after it was ascertained that it loaded a shipment in Colombia. The CCI monitored the route taken by the boat that was intercepted by a US Coast Guard law enforcement detachment on board the USS Farragut Navy vessel in international waters near Puerto Rico.
The successful seizure was part of the Caribbean Corridor Initiative, an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Strike Force and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area project that investigates South American-based drug trafficking organizations responsible for the movement of multi-kilogram quantities of narcotics, utilizing the Caribbean as a trans-shipment point for further distribution to the United States. The members of this inter-agency group are: the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and US Coast Guard (USCG). For more information, see
www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2008/carib100208.html (http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/pubs/states/newsrel/2008/carib100208.html)
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#10)