In a coordinated multi-agency counter-drug operation off the Caribbean coast of the Dominican Republic, law enforcement and military units have seized 749 packages of suspected cocaine and taken four suspects into custody, marking a major win against international drug trafficking in the region.
The simultaneous maritime intercept operations were carried out several nautical miles south of Punta Salinas, near Baní in Peravia province, led by the Dominican Republic’s National Drug Control Directorate (DNCD) with support from the Dominican Navy and Air Force. All operational activity was coordinated through the Dominican Public Ministry, with additional intelligence backing from domestic intelligence agencies, the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S), a U.S.-led regional task force focused on disrupting illicit trafficking in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
The first interception targeted a small smuggling vessel carrying two male suspects. Search teams found 281 packages of the suspected controlled substance, packed into 10 large bales hidden aboard the craft. Along with the illicit cargo, operatives also discovered an endangered exotic monkey being trafficked alongside the drugs, an unusual secondary find that points to the vessel’s involvement in multiple lines of illegal activity.
A short time later, a second smuggling boat was intercepted in the same general maritime area. On this second vessel, authorities recovered 468 more packages of suspected cocaine, stowed in 20 bales, and arrested two additional Dominican citizens bringing the total number of detainees to four.
Across both operations, the combined seizure amounts to 30 bales holding 749 packages total. The contraband has been placed under formal chain of custody and transferred to the Dominican Republic’s National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF), where forensic analysts will conduct laboratory testing to confirm the exact identity of the substance and calculate its precise total weight. Official estimates of the street value of the seizure are not yet available pending forensic testing.
Authorities have confirmed that the investigation remains active and ongoing. DNCD and Public Ministry officials are working to trace the smuggling network back to its leadership, identify additional co-conspirators linked to the operation, and dismantle the larger criminal infrastructure responsible for moving controlled substances into the Dominican Republic, a key transit route for cocaine moving from South America to North America and Europe.
The U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo released a statement praising the outcome of the operation, publicly congratulating the DNCD, Dominican Navy, and Air Force for their successful work. The statement emphasized the ongoing value of binational cooperation between the United States and the Dominican Republic in disrupting drug trafficking networks and advancing regional security.