Coast Guard High-Seas Interdiction Ends With Seizure of 520 Kilograms of Cocaine, Arrests of Four Dominican Republic Nationals

ST. THOMAS — U.S. Attorney Gretchen C.F. Shappert announced Friday that four Dominican Republic nationals were charged with possession of cocaine onboard a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.

Carlos De La Rosa, 33, Alexis Sanchez Garcia, 32, Rafael Martinez, 29, and Elvis Manuel Rodriguez, 35, were charged by complaint and will appear in Federal Court on Monday, September 13, 2021, for their advice of rights hearing.

According to court documents, on August 30, 2021, United States Coast Guard Cutter (CGC) intercepted a white and blue, go-fast vessel with one outboard engine and two persons onboard at approximately 45NM south of Punta Salinas, DR. The go-fast vessel displayed no indicia of nationality and had packages and fuel barrels visible on deck. CGC TAMPA launched its over the horizon (OTH) vessel to intercept the go-fast vessel, but despite multiple warning shots, the go-fast vessel refused to stop. Coast Guard Officers then disabled the non-compliant go-fast vessel, which they reasonably suspected of drug smuggling in international waters. As the OTH approached the disabled go-fast vessel, both persons on board the vessel began jettisoning packages and bales into the ocean.

The OTH boarding team took control of the go-fast vessel and recovered 14 bales of suspected contraband from the ocean. The boarding team conducted two presumptive drug tests on the recovered contraband, which yielded positive results for cocaine. The bales of cocaine were loose kilos in a white burlap sack weighing approximately 520 kilograms at sea weight. The occupants, later identified as Carlos De La Rosa and Alexis Sanchez Garcia, both claimed Dominican Republic nationality, but refused to make a claim for the vessel or who was the master of the vessel. The vessel had no name, documentation, registration numbers, or homeport painted on its hull, and was therefore treated as a vessel subject to the jurisdiction of the United States.