A total of 1.8 tonnes of cocaine was seized on Tuesday from an outboard boat off the island of Saint-Martin in the French West Indies, AFP learned on Wednesday from sources close to the matter.
The seizure took place late Tuesday afternoon, when this boat, without name or registration, had just moored at a pontoon in the town of Marigot, in the French part of the island, detailed one of these sources.
Once this “cigarette” type boat, a very powerful boat popular with drug traffickers, was moored, its occupants “immediately” fled, added this Source. They have not been able to be found at this time.
Inside the boat, “several dozen bales” of cocaine, with a total weight of 1.8 tonnes, were found by local gendarmes, this Source said.
Current research
The Basse-Terre public prosecutor’s office (Guadeloupe) entrusted the investigation to the Ofast branch in Saint-Martin. Research continues to “identify the means of escape used by traffickers,” this Source further indicated.
In 2022, 27.7 tonnes of cocaine were intercepted according to the authorities’ latest report, an increase of 5% compared to 2021, a figure multiplied by five in 10 years.
Transport by sea is the main gateway for cocaine in France, with 75.4% of the quantities seized, or 16.3 tonnes.
More than half (55%) of the white powder seized in 2022 came from the Antilles and Guyana, a transit zone before arriving in mainland France.
