Dominican Republic Confirms Historic Cocaine Seizure After U.S. Navy Destroyed Speedboat

The Dominican Republic announced Sunday that authorities seized hundreds of packages of cocaine from a drug-smuggling vessel destroyed during a joint operation with the United States Navy in the Caribbean, as reported by The New York Post.

The Dominican Republic’s National Directorate for Drug Control (DNCD) reported in a press conference that 377 packages of cocaine were recovered from the boat. Officials said the vessel had been carrying approximately 1,000 kilograms of the drug before it was destroyed.

The Dominican Republic has recovered cocaine from a speedboat destroyed in a U.S. military airstrike, marking a joint operation against drug trafficking in the Caribbean. The Trump administration has intensified its campaign against narcoterrorism, facing criticism for its… pic.twitter.com/jRqavqRlwh

— AL Khammas (@ALkhammas2) September 22, 2025

The operation took place about 80 nautical miles south of Isla Beata, a small island under Dominican jurisdiction.

The DNCD confirmed that the Dominican Navy and U.S. authorities collaborated to intercept the speedboat, which was allegedly attempting to dock in the Dominican Republic to use the nation as a transit point for trafficking cocaine into the United States.

“This is the first time in history that the United States and the Dominican Republic carry out a joint operation against narco terrorism in the Caribbean,” the DNCD said in a statement.

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The seizure comes amid an ongoing anti-narcotics mission launched in August by the Trump administration. As part of the operation, the U.S. deployed eight warships and a submarine to the southern Caribbean with the stated goal of combating drug trafficking in the region.

According to the White House, the mission has resulted in the destruction of three speedboats carrying drugs in separate operations. Officials said more than a dozen individuals aboard the vessels have been killed during the actions.

#DOMREPUBLIC: In a post on X on Sunday, the National Directorate for Drug Control (DNCD), the country’s drug enforcement agency, said it carried out a joint Dominican-US operation in which they said they recovered 1,000kg (2,200lb) of cocaine in 377 packages. pic.twitter.com/yfhN4WJiRI

— CaribbeanNewsNetwork (@caribbeannewsuk) September 22, 2025

The operation has drawn criticism from human rights groups, who argue that sinking the boats constitutes extrajudicial killings. On Friday, two Democratic senators introduced a resolution in Congress seeking to block the administration from carrying out further strikes.

The Trump administration has pointed to Venezuela as a major source of the vessels.

U.S. officials have repeatedly accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of involvement in drug trafficking and linked him to the so-called Cartel of the Suns, a network of military officials alleged to oversee narcotics operations.

Maduro has denied the allegations and labeled the American naval presence in the Caribbean an attack on his country.

The Dominican Republic’s seizure of cocaine highlights the cooperation between U.S. and regional authorities in countering narcotics smuggling routes in the Caribbean. Both governments said the investigation into the broader trafficking network remains ongoing.

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