| Office of Public Affairs U.S. Coast Guard Seventh District |
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| Press Release |
Date: March 20, 2004 Contact: |
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COAST GUARD, DUTCH JOIN FORCES IN DRUG BUST SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Wednesday night about 11 p.m. the HNLMS Van Galen and members of the San Diego, Calif., based Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) 107 stopped and boarded the sailing vessel Sunrise found to be carrying an estimated 400 pounds of cocaine from Venezuela. The Sunrise, a 47-foot single masted pleasure boat, was spotted approximately 150 miles north of Isla Margarita, Venezuela, sailing without lights and headed to the northeast. The four people on board were observed jettisoning some of their cargo and the Coast Guard LEDET team quickly intercepted the vessel using a small boat from Van Galen. During a search of the vessel, the LEDET team found packages of drugs in multiple locations and placed the suspects under arrest. The team took custody of the cocaine remaining on board, it is unknown how much contraband was thrown overboard before the Coast Guard crew arrived.
All four suspects are Bulgarian citizens and claim to have recently purchased the vessel in Venezuelan and were sailing the vessel back to Bulgaria. The suspects and drugs will be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, tomorrow. The HNLMS Van Galen is on a six-month deployment in the Caribbean as part of an ongoing multinational effort to stop the flow of illegal drugs. The Van Galen, with its U.S. Coast Guard LEDET and a spotter helicopter crew from Belgium, will work as part of the Joint Inter Agency Task Force South based in Key West, Fla., which coordinates counter-drug operations in the Caribbean. Capt Douglas Rudolph, Commanding Officer of the U. S. Coast Guard Greater Antilles Section stated “This case is a good example of close international communication, by having a LEDET aboard the Van Galen, The U.S. Coast Guard was able to support this combined counter drug operation added yet another interdiction.” ### The U.S. Coast Guard is a military, maritime, multi-mission service within the |
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