Authorities in the Dominican Republic revealed Sunday that more than a ton of cocaine was aboard a speedboat destroyed in a joint military strike with the U.S. Navy, marking what officials call a historic first in the Caribbean.
The Dominican Republic’s National Directorate for Drug Control (DNCD) confirmed that 377 packages of cocaine… weighing close to 1,000 kilos (2,200 pounds)… were recovered after the high-speed vessel was neutralized by U.S. forces about 80 nautical miles south of Isla Beata, a Dominican territory.
Officials say the operation targeted “narcoterrorists” attempting to use the Dominican Republic as a bridge for moving cocaine into the United States. The nation’s Navy worked in coordination with American authorities to intercept the vessel before it reached Dominican shores.
Video evidence released by the DNCD shows officers unloading tightly wrapped bricks of cocaine, some stamped with the word “MEN”, from the wrecked boat.
“This is the first time in history that the United States and the Dominican Republic have executed a joint strike against narco-terrorism in the Caribbean,” the DNCD declared in its statement.
