Nicaraguan navy seizes 2 tons of cocaine

By Dialogo
March 06, 2012

MANAGUA, Nicaragua – Nicaragua’s navy seized more than two tons of cocaine in the country’s south Caribbean region on Mar. 5, authorities said.
Naval chief Roger González said the operation took place early Mar. 4 in Punta del Águila, 35 nautical miles from the port city of Bluefields, 383 kilometers (238 miles) southeast of the capital, Managua.
The narcotics were found abandoned on a vessel on Punta de Águila, a place considered a “high- risk” area, which is why naval officers decided not to continue their search for four crew members believed to have fled the scene, González said.
“It's likely that the vessel’s crew have some kind of connection to local groups, such as the Aragón Salablanca, several of whom were captured last week in the south Atlantic region,” González said.
It is possible that the vessel’s crew were Colombian, he added, since the illicit cargo was found close to San Andrés Island, a Colombian territory. But González did not rule out the possibility that the crew “may be Honduran or Nicaraguan.”
At the site, the navy found 95 sacks of the drug, each containing 25 packets of cocaine, totaling more than two tons, he said.
[Xinhua, 05/03/2012; Elnuevodiario.com.ni (Nicaragua), 06/03/2012]