WILLEMSTAD - For the third consecutive week, Zr.Ms. Holland has made a significant drug bust—this time, not just one, but two. On Saturday, September 21st, the naval ship intercepted two go-fasts near the ABC Islands within a span of three hours. A total of seven suspects were arrested, and approximately 1,790 kilos of cocaine were seized.
In the early hours of Saturday morning, the Dash-8 patrol aircraft of the Caribbean Coast Guard detected a suspicious go-fast in the Caribbean Sea. Zr.Ms. Holland immediately sprang into action, deploying its fast interception vessels. Upon seeing the FRISCs, the four smugglers dumped their drug packages into the sea, stopped the boat, and eventually surrendered. In total, the group was smuggling approximately 1,290 kilos of cocaine. Onboard were three Venezuelan men and one Colombian man.
Shortly after the suspects and the drugs were brought aboard Zr.Ms. Holland, the ship’s radar systems detected another go-fast. This time, the three smugglers did not surrender easily. They too dumped the drugs into the sea, and the boat only stopped after targeted shots were fired at the engines. In this second drug bust, the crew of Zr.Ms. Holland recovered approximately 500 kilos of cocaine from the sea. Onboard the go-fast were three Venezuelan men.
Drugs Destroyed
The suspects and drugs from the first bust were handed over to the Curaçao Police Corps, while those from the second bust were transferred to the Caribbean Netherlands Police Corps in Bonaire. The seized narcotics have since been destroyed.
Zr.Ms. Holland is the station ship in the Caribbean region. During anti-drug operations, the naval ship collaborates alternately with the U.S. Coast Guard and the Caribbean Coast Guard. These two cases were carried out under the orders of the Caribbean Coast Guard.