by Kaylee Greenlee
A makeshift wooden vessel carrying two men from the Dominican Republic was spotted and intercepted three miles off the coast of Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents Thursday morning.
The men were traveling in a “yola” type vessel with a “significant amount of weapons and ammo,” a CBP spokesman told the Daily Caller News Foundation. Two men were arrested and the vessel was seized.
“Transnational Criminal organizations regularly transport narcotics and undocumented migrants through the Mona passage into western Puerto Rico,” CBP Public Affairs Officer Jeffrey Quiñones told the DCNF. “In the past we have seized individual weapons that have been in the possession of smugglers. This is an unusual incident.”
Earlier today, Ramey #USBP agents detected a vessel and coordinated with #PRPD for intercept. The interdiction resulted in the arrest of 2 illegal aliens along with the seizure of weapons (to include assault riffles), ammunition, and 16k US.#RameyBPdetections #Keepthemcoming pic.twitter.com/dZlaTH1i9R
— (A) Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Michael E. Estrada (@USBPDepChiefRMY) August 20, 2020
CBP agents seized an American Tactical .223 Caliber Rifle, a KG .223 Caliber Rifle with no serial number, a KAR-15 .223 Caliber Rifle, a Glock 27 .40 Caliber Pistol that had been altered, a Smith & Wesson SW40F .40 Caliber Pistol.
The agents reportedly seized $16,000 U.S. dollars worth of cash, Deputy Chief Patrol Agent Michael E. Estrada said in a tweet.
In total, CBP agents seized around 575 rounds of ammunition.
They found 20 rounds of .308 caliber rifle ammunition, 266 rounds of .223 caliber rifle ammunition, seven .223 caliber rifle magazines, two .223 caliber rifle drum magazines, 250 rounds of .40 caliber pistol ammunition, 39 rounds of 9MM pistol ammunition, two rounds of .45 caliber pistol ammunition, seven .40 caliber pistol magazines, and two 9MM pistol magazines, according to Quiñones.
CBP agents also found four pocket knives and three bottles of tequila, but they weren’t counted for seizure purposes.
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Kaylee Greenlee is a reporter for the Daily Caller News Foundation.
