MIAMI, United States (CMC) — The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency says its Air and Marine Operations (AMO) detected multiple drug-smuggling vessels with 4,735 pounds of cocaine as part of Operation Full Court Press in the Caribbean Sea with interagency partners.

On Wednesday CBP said the estimated wholesale value of the drugs is US$61.7 million.

CBP said crews from Miami Air and Marine Branch and Caribbean Air and Marine Branch used “sophisticated maritime surveillance equipment to detect multiple drug-smuggling vessels as part of multi-agency operations around the holidays.”

It’s reported that the discovery was made between December 18 and December 22.

CBP said Operation Full Court Press is an Air and Marine Operations Southeast Region led operation leveraging interagency partnerships to target maritime smuggling organisations responsible for cocaine trafficking throughout the Caribbean to the United States and elsewhere for distribution.

A shipment of over 100 firearms and several rounds of ammunition destined for Montego Bay, Jamaica was recently seized by US customs.The mega bust was made by border protection agents at Miami International Airport in November during a routine inspection on a shipment.

The shipment contained two blue barrels that were said to contain personal effects.

A physical inspection revealed various food items, cat litter, a cardboard box labelled as a four-drawer dresser, and one cardboard box labelled as a television stand.

But further checks revealed that the ‘personal effects’ actually contained two rifles, 115 pistols, 139 magazines, 103 rounds of nine mm ammunition, 50 rounds of .357 ammunition, 50 rounds of .45 ammunition, 24 rounds of .40 ammunition, 40 rounds of .223 ammunition, nine handgun back straps, five magazine parts, three pistol grips, three buttstocks, and weapons parts.

The weapons were scheduled to arrive in Montego Bay from Miami via Kingston.

The Jamaican police are investigating.

Source: LoopTT

U. S. Customs and Border Protection agents have arrested a 33-year-old woman who was rolling around Kennedy Airport with a motorized wheelchair filled with cocaine, officials said Tuesday.

Yoncela Stanley had just landed in the U.S. on a JetBlue flight from St. Lucia on Sunday when Customs and Border Protection officers noticed something was wrong with the chair’s back seat cushion.

Stanley appeared nervous when she presented her baggage, prompting Customs agents to bring over a K-9 dog. The dog alerted the officers to the contraband, authorities said.

When the agents removed the cushion, they found it unusually heavy — probably because it was filled with more than 10 bricks of cocaine weighing about 27 pounds, officials said.

The drugs had an estimated street value of $468,000, officials said.

Stanley was charged with federal narcotics smuggling and was ordered held on $50,000 bail during a brief arraignment Monday in Brooklyn Federal Court.

“This latest seizure demonstrates the vigilance of our CBP officers, and their excellence in detecting those who would try to smuggle these illegal substances,” said Leon Hayward, acting director of field operations New York.

Source: NY Times