US seizes $63m worth of cocaine after dramatic shootout on high seas

Source: The Guardian

US seizes $63m worth of cocaine after dramatic shootout on high seas

Patrol boat off Venezuelan coast shoots and sinks vessel suspected of carrying drugs as three people go overboard

Richard Luscombe in Miami
Fri 7 Jun 2024 21.58 BST
Last modified on Fri 7 Jun 2024 22.12 BST

A high-seas shootout pitting drug runners against the law ended with the smugglers’ boat at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea and the US Coast Guard seizing $63m worth of cocaine, authorities in Florida said on Friday.

The dramatic encounter took place on Tuesday about 25 miles (40km) north of Puerto Cabello, Venezuela, when the coast guard cutter Resolute – patrolling with the Dutch navy ship Groningen – identified a vessel in international waters suspected of carrying narcotics, according to a press release from the USCG south-east region.

The crew of a joint forces fast interception craft fired on the suspected smugglers when the “non-compliant vessel” was turned at speed towards them, and the boat caught fire and sank. The US and Dutch sailors acted “in self-defense and defense of others in response to the life-threatening situation”, the press release said.

On Friday, the US Coast Guard and Dutch authorities said they had called off an air and sea search for the three persons onboard the boat, who went overboard when it caught alight.

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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/07/us-coast-guard-shootout-cocaine


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Related: Coast Guard, Dutch suspend search for missing persons following counter drug mission in Caribbean Sea (U.S. Coast Guard)

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