Costa Maya, Q.R. — Another large drug seizure has been announced at sea, this time off the coast of Quintana Roo. In an official statement released Tuesday afternoon, the Navy of Mexico reported making the 3 ton seizure “in recent days”.
Their bust is one of three made over the weekend in the Caribbean Sea. The small fleet of drug boats originated in Colombia with destinations of Puerto Rico and Quintana Roo.
The Secretary of the Navy reported that in recent days, personnel from the Ninth and the Seventeenth Naval Zone, based in Isla Mujeres and Chetumal, seized 153 rectangular packages of cocaine weighing more than 3 tons.
The drug bust was made off the coast of the state of Quintana Roo.
“This action was carried out by naval personnel during maritime and air surveillance patrol tours in the maintenance of the rule of law, in which an aircraft and an ocean patrol of the Mexican Navy participated,” the Secretaría de Marina (Semar) said in their statement.
“Therefore, a routine inspection was carried out on a smaller vessel, detecting inside 153 rectangular packages with an approximate weight of more than three tons of white powder with characteristics similar to cocaine, and 18 drums of hydrocarbon.
“As a result of the above, naval personnel proceeded to carry out the seizure of the smaller vessel, the illicit cargo and the hydrocarbon as well as the placing at the disposal of the three alleged violators of the law,” their official statement read.
The three detained men are of Mexican nationality. Two are from the state of Sinaloa and one from Oaxaca.
This seizure is believed linked to the Sunday seizure, also of 3 tons of cocaine, but by the Ministerio Público of Honduras on May 9. Official information surrounding that seizure was not released until May 12 when, according to their statement, approximately 3 tons (2,878 kilos) of cocaine was seized from a small vessel off the coast of Tegucigalpa, Francisco Morazán.
That vessel, they reported, is believed to have had a final destination of Quintana Roo, but was intercepted before reaching Mexico.
“An exchange of information was carried out between Honduran authorities with intelligence forces from Mexico and Colombia, with whom the information finally resulted in the interception of the boat,” they said.
The official May 14 statement from Mexico’s Semar did not reveal the exact date of the at-sea seizure or the exact location, however, local reports have said the drug boat was located off the coast of Mahahual.
Two speed boats traveling without lights were sighted by authorities off the coast of Mahahual, however, one of the boats managed to escape.
According to local media, all of the boats originated from Colombia and were part of an initial four that set out around May 9. The final destinations of the four boats are reported to have been Puerto Rico and Quintana Roo.
On May 13, 2024 a vessel similar to the two found recently was located in waters off Puerto Rico. That boat was located in a joint operation between United States Customs and agents of the Puerto Rico Police that also resulted in a 700 kilo drug seizure and arrest of two.
In a post, the CBP AMO Regional Director SE of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection said “Caribbean interdiction..!! CBP agents spotted a vessel near Fajardo that was operating without navigation lights. Working with Policias PR, agents stopped the vessel, detained two, and seized over 700 kilos of cocaine.”
