Coast Guard Intercepts Boat Carrying 250 Kilos of Cocaine off Dominican Republic
The crew of the Coast Guard ship Hamilton use a crane to offload approximately 26.5 tons of cocaine at Port Everglades on December 15, 2016 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The drugs worth an estimated $715 million were from 27 separate, suspected drug smuggling vessel interdictions and five bale recovery operations by the U.S. Coast Guard, Royal Canadian Naval crews and its interagency partners. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Key West-based crews of the U.S. Coast Guard intercepted a speedboat carrying 250 kilograms of cocaine off the Dominican Republic last week.

According to the Miami Herald, the Coast Guard said in a press release Monday that the crews discovered that the boat was carrying 10 bales of cocaine after it was stopped.

Coast Guard's Cocaine Bust Off Dominican Republic

The Coast Guard crew estimated that the recovered cocaine weighing around 250 kilograms had a wholesale value of about $7.5 million.

Based on the report, the 25-foot boat was at around 145 nautical miles south of Hispaniola last Wednesday when a U.S. law enforcement aircraft detected the vessel. The patrolling aircraft radioed the Coast Guard Cutter Kathleen Moore to intercept the boat.

Aside from the cocaine at the vessel, the Coast Guard said the crew of the cutter and a smaller Coast Guard patrol boat found two Dominican nationals who were operating the vessel.

The two men from the Dominican Republic were arrested and would be facing charges of possession with intent to distribute cocaine aboard a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the U.S.

In a statement, Lt. Andrew R. Collins, the commanding officer of Kathleen Moore, said the crew did a great job in working with their interagency partners and Coast Guard watchstanders. He added that the interception prevented this drug smuggling attempt from making landfall

The Coast Guard has not named the arrested Dominican nationals. They were transferred to another cutter, which took them to San Juan, Puerto Rico, where they would be facing the charges on Saturday.

Coast Guard Offloads $15 Million Worth of Seized Cocaine in Puerto Rico

In July, a crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Tezanos seized close to $15 million worth of cocaine, WTSP reported.

The drug bust happened near Mona Island, Puerto Rico. The operation was prompted when an aircrew discovered two individuals on a 24-foot go-fast vessel suspected of drug trafficking.

An officer of the CBP's Air and Marine Operations happened to be in close range of the suspected go-fast vessel on cutter Joseph Tezanos and stopped it with the assistance provided by the cutter's small boat.

After the Coast Guard cutter crew entered the suspected vessel for drug trafficking, they were able to locate several packages inside the vessel, along with some that were thrown off of the boat and recovered into the water.

A total of 502 packages of cocaine were recovered during the operation and weighed approximately 1,104 pounds.

The commanding officer of the Cutter Joseph Tezanos, Lieutenant Anthony Orr, commended the officers' work who were able to stop the criminal activity that was going to happen if the vessel had a successful touchdown.

This article is owned by Latin Post

Written by: Jess Smith

WATCH: 2 Men Arrested After $10 Million in Cocaine Turns Up In Their Wooden Boat Off Puerto Rico - From WPLG Local 10