660 pounds of cocaine seized by feds from boat sailing near Puerto Rico
Federal agents seized $6 million worth of cocaine and arrested two men from the Dominican Republic in waters south of Puerto Rico, officials said Thursday.
More than 660 pounds 300 kilograms of cocaine were found aboard a boat traveling south of the U.S. territory on Wednesday, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
It is the latest multimillion-dollar drug seizure this year in waters surrounding Puerto Rico. In July, federal agents seized $4.6 million worth of cocaine west of the island. Two U.S. citizens were arrested.
Puerto Rico is considered a transit point for drugs being smuggled to the U.S. mainland and other countries.
In June, the U.S. Coast Guard said it offloaded more than 4,800 pounds of cocaine worth over $63 million at a port in Florida after officials said Coast Guard officers fired at and sank a speedboat suspected of smuggling drugs in the Caribbean Sea.
About a week before that, a separate Coast Guard crew offloaded $468 million worth of cocaine in San Diego. That haul was the result of eight separate operations off the coasts of Mexico and Central and South America.
Bricks of cocaine have also been washing up on Florida beaches in recent months -- at least five times since the beginning of the year.
