The British Royal Navy’s HMS Trent (P224), operating with the Coast Guard, seized the shipment, estimated at 4.5 million dollars, and arrested two smugglers from the Dominican Republic after intercepting a high-speed vessel in the Caribbean waters off the southwest coast of Cabo Rojo.
“We appreciate the work and cooperation of our partners in the British Royal Navy in interdicting drug smuggling vessels on the high seas,” Commander Gerard Wenk, chief of response for San Juan Sector of the US Coast Guard, said after the operation, which took place on March 3.
Wenk noted that the work they do every day with their federal, local, and regional partners helps protect and bring stability to the Caribbean region in the face of this drug trafficking threat.
Denise Foster, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Caribbean Division of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said, “Drug trafficking organizations pose the greatest threat to the safety and health of our citizens.”
“We will continue to work with our counterparts and deploy all of our law enforcement resources to have a greater impact in vulnerable areas where criminal drug trafficking organizations are causing the most damage,” Foster added.
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