The Dominican Republic has reported that a vessel targeted by a U.S. airstrike was transporting “approximately 1,000 kilograms of suspected cocaine.”
This quantity equates to more than 2,200 pounds, which is over one ton of the illicit substance.
Dominican authorities indicated that its National Drug Control Directorate and navy confiscated hundreds of packages of the drug following the American attack on the vessel. “The packages were sent, under chain of custody, to the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF) to determine their exact type and weight,” the release stated.
According to a news release from the National Drug Control Directorate, “Dominican authorities, in close coordination with the United States Southern Command (Southcom) and the Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-South), detected a speedboat (Go Fast type), which intelligence reports indicated was loaded with narcotics and was heading to Dominican territory, with the intention of using the country as a bridge to take it to the United States.”
This marked the first “joint operation against narcoterrorism in the Caribbean region” carried out between the Dominican Republic and the U.S., as per the release detailing the initiative.
President has ordered strikes on several boats this month as part of efforts to crack down on drug trafficking to the U.S.
“IF YOU ARE TRANSPORTING DRUGS THAT CAN KILL AMERICANS, WE ARE HUNTING YOU!” the commander-in-chief warned last week in a Truth Social post concerning one of the strikes.
A U.S. government resource on cocaine describes the substance as “an intense, euphoria-producing stimulant drug with strong addictive potential” and notes that “Tolerance to cocaine’s effects develops rapidly, causing users to take higher and higher doses.”