Members of the T&T Coast Guard collaborated with their US counterparts in intercepting a fishing vessel carrying 4.2 tonnes of cocaine with an estimated street value of TT$837 million last month.
In a release yesterday, the T&T Coast Guard said the bust occurred on February 16 during a joint drug interdiction operation between the T&T Coast Guard and the US Coast Guard.
A 70-foot fishing vessel was intercepted in international waters, north of Paramaribo off the coast of Suriname, it said.
Searches conducted on board the vessel resulted in the discovery of 4.2 tons of cocaine with an estimated street value of US$125 million dollars (TT $837 million). This was described as the largest seizure in the Atlantic since 1999.
The vessel was subsequently towed by TTCG and US Coast Guard vessels to waters east of Tobago, en route to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Four Guyanese nationals were detained in connection with the narcotics and subsequently transferred to US Federal law enforcement in St Croix, US Virgin Islands to face prosecution, the release added.
