Dutch navy seizes 700 kilos of cocaine on Caribbean

The Dutch Navy seized a total of nearly 700 kilograms of cocaine in two separate drug busts in the Caribbean in the last 48 hours, Hart van Nederland reports.

During a shooting exercise off the coast of Curacao, Dutch frigate Zr. Ms. Van Amstel received a report of a suspicious small motorboat north of the territorial waters of Colombia. The NH-90 helicopter was deployed to find the motorboat, and Zr. Ms. Van Amstel set sail in its direction.

Some distance from the motorboat, Zr. Ms. Van Amstel deployed two RHIBs - rigid-hulled inflatable boats - with a boarding team from the U.S. Coast Guard. As the RHIBs approached the motorboat, a number of packages were thrown into the sea. Ten packages were fished out of the water. Another three packages were found on board. Together the packages contained some 325 kilograms of cocaine. Three crew members aboard the motorboat were arrested.

Before the arrested crew members could be transferred to the U.S. Coast Guard, another report of a suspicious boat was received. A RHIB with a U.S. Coast Guard also boarded this boat and seized 15 bales containing about 350 kilograms of cocaine. The people on board were arrested.

All detainees and cocaine were transferred to the United States Coast Guard.

Zr. Ms. Van Amstel is currently helping with anti-drug operations on the Caribbean Sea. The ship and its crew form part of an ongoing counter-narcotics operation led by the United States.