Colombia’s navy seizes a ship sailing to Belize with 130lbs of cocaine.
The boat, named “Shilo” and flying a U.S. flag, was detained in the Caribbean ocean between Cartagena and Belize. On board were two men, one an 80-year-old U.S. citizen, and the other a middle-aged Colombian.
Both men were subsequently taken with their vessel to the Cartagena Coast Guard station where the Technical Investigation Team (CTI) of the Prosecutor General’s Office tested the substance carried by the men and verified that it was cocaine.
Caribbean Coast Guard Commander Carlos Serrano stated, “We saw the boat on the high seas, followed it and later boarded and inspected the ship. That was in the early morning on Sunday,” reports El Espectador.
Serrano added that “the 59 kilos (130lbs) of cocaine were in various plastic bags and had a market value of approximately $1.5 million.”
In respect to the US citizen, Serrano said that “upon being captured he said he was simply en route from Cartagena to Belize. He is a life-long navigator. But this drug does not just appear overnight in a boat. Or maybe, as the detained men stated, the drug came out of nowhere.”
The two men remain in the custody of authorities.