SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — United States Coast Guard crews offloaded about $829,000 worth of cocaine from a boat traveling north of Puerto Rico.
A Customs and Border Protection aircrew spotted the suspect boat, and a Coast Guard crew saw boaters toss multiple packages overboard before stopping the boat, according to a news release.
Coast Guard personnel took some of the cargo, which tested positive for cocaine. The nine suspects on the boat were transported to Drug Enforcement Administration agents in Puerto Rico.
"Our interagency efforts with federal, local and regional partners in our area of responsibility is critical to protecting the people of Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands from this threat as well as safeguarding the security and stability of the Caribbean region," said Coast Guard Commander Matthew Romano.
This is one of the many recent events where law enforcement has found drugs in the waters near Florida.
A large package of cocaine covered in barnacles was found floating in mangroves in the Gulf of Mexico worth more than half a million dollars.
Collier County Sheriff's Office is investigating after boats found the 56-pound package, which was about the size of a microwave, according to a Facebook post on Monday. Deputies said the barnacles showed that the package had been in the water for a while.
The estimated street value is $625,000 and deputies said the find was "reminiscent of the 'square grouper' marijuana smuggling days" in the county during the 1970s and 1980s. Detectives with the narcotics bureau are working to determine where the drugs came from but said it most likely washed in with the rides from the east coast due to recent storms.
A beachgoer in the Florida Keys also found cocaine near a pier earlier this month. a border patrol agent said Hurricane Debby blew the packages onto the beach.
