A US Coast Guard law enforcement detachment on the USS Billings stopped a suspected drug smuggling vessel about eight miles off Mole Saint-Nicolas, haiti, on April 30. The boarding team found about 3,200 pounds of marijuana, and one person was detained.
The marijuana was worth about US$3.8 million. The contraband and the suspected smuggler were transferred to Haitian authorities on Sunday, May 3.
USS Billings and LEDET 405
The interdiction involved the US Coast Guard medium endurance cutter USCGC Venturous, US Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team South, LEDET 405, and US Navy Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron 48, Detachment Three. Joint Interagency Task Force-South and Coast Guard Southeast District watchstanders also took part in the operation.
JIATF-S in Key West, Florida, monitors aerial and maritime transit of illegal drugs. Once an interdiction becomes imminent, the law enforcement phase begins and control shifts to the US Coast Guard for the interdiction and apprehension phases.
Haitian Authorities Receive Cargo
The Coast Guard conducts interdictions in the Caribbean Sea under the authority and control of Coast Guard Southeast District, headquartered in Miami. In this case, that chain carried the vessel from surveillance to seizure and then to transfer, with Haitian authorities taking custody on May 3.
For Haiti, the practical change is immediate: a suspected smuggling route off Mole Saint-Nicolas lost a load worth about US$3.8 million, and Haitian authorities now hold the contraband and the detained person.
Maritime Route Off Mole Saint-Nicolas
The operation also shows how a single interception can move across agencies before landing with Haitian authorities. The vessel was stopped roughly eight miles, or 13 kilometres, from Mole Saint-Nicolas, placing the seizure close to Haiti’s northwest coast and within the Caribbean corridor the Coast Guard says it patrols.
The next step in the case now sits with Haitian authorities, who received both the marijuana and the detained person after the April 30 interdiction.
