BASSETERRE, St Kitts – A joint law enforcement operation targeting a docking vessel in St. Kitts and Nevis has yielded a significant seizure of cocaine and cannabis, with seven crew members from three different Caribbean nations taken into custody. The operation has reignited public and official scrutiny after investigators uncovered a striking link to a massive 2022 drug bust involving a seemingly connected vessel, raising new questions about regional narcotics trafficking networks and the country’s potential role as a transhipment hub.
The operation unfolded on August 10, 2026, when the vessel identified as C-Elizabeth II docked in St. Kitts at approximately 9:00 a.m. Acting on intelligence, teams from the Royal St. Christopher and Nevis Police Force (RSCNPF), St. Kitts-Nevis Coast Guard, and the St. Kitts and Nevis Customs and Excise Department – including the department’s K9 Unit and the RSCNPF’s Anti-Narcotics Unit – launched a coordinated search of the vessel.
During the systematic search, law enforcement officials uncovered two stashes of illegal narcotics: 12.515 pounds of plant matter confirmed to be cannabis, and one full kilogramme of cocaine in the form of a white powder. The captain and all six crew members on board were immediately taken into custody for questioning as part of the ongoing investigation. Police confirmed that the detained individuals hold citizenship from three Caribbean territories: Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago.
What has turned a routine seizure into a major regional story is the clear connection to a far larger drug bust that took place in the same waters four years earlier. In 2022, a vessel named MV Elizabeth C, registered in Trinidad and Tobago with International Maritime Organization number 8894574, was intercepted off St. Kitts and Nevis after authorities detected large quantities of hidden narcotics on board. During that 2022 operation, search teams found the illicit drugs concealed within the hollow walls of the vessel’s cabin. The haul included 32 bales of cocaine, each holding 25-kilogramme blocks for a total of approximately 800 kilogrammes, alongside 5.830 kilogrammes (12.852 pounds) of cannabis. At the time, the street value of the 2022 cocaine seizure was estimated at roughly US$26.4 million, with the cannabis valued at approximately US$57,777. All five crew members on board the 2022 vessel, three from Trinidad and Tobago and two from Grenada and Carriacou, were taken into custody for questioning in that investigation.
With the near-identical naming of the vessel, overlapping nationalities among the detained crews, and two separate major drug seizures in the same jurisdiction within four years, industry observers and law enforcement analysts are now pushing for answers about the vessel’s true ownership, registration history, and pattern of regional movements. As investigators continue to piece together the details of the 2026 bust, the incident has once again opened a broader public discussion about whether the Federation of St. Kitts and Nevis is being increasingly targeted by drug trafficking organizations as an unofficial transhipment port for narcotics moving through the Caribbean.