3 Venezuelans arrested with 3.7 tons of cocaine

Three Venezuelans and one Honduran arrested Tuesday in an anti-drug operation in the Caribbean coast of Honduras that left one dead and 3.7 tons of cocaine seized were sent to prison Wednesday by order of a court in Tegucigalpa, an official source said.

The Honduran Public Prosecutor’s Office indicated in a press release that the Special Prosecutor’s Office Against Organized Crime (FESCCO) achieved, in a hearing for the declaration of the accused, the “judicial arrest” of the four people who were transporting 3,774 kilos of cocaine.

It’s about the Venezuelans Jovani Gonzales Escala, Gregory Millan Ribera and Luis Jose Castillo, and Honduran Felipe Joevany Velázquez, all accused of the crime of aggravated drug trafficking.

The four detainees will be held in preventive detention at the National Penitentiary, some 20 kilometers north of Tegucigalpa, and will appear at the initial hearing on Monday, September 16, he added.

How were the Venezuelans caught with the cocaine?

The cargo was transported “in a go fast type boat” (powered by outboard motors) by three Venezuelans and two Hondurans, one of whom lost his life during the confrontation, according to a report from the Ministry of Defense.

The vessel was intercepted in a sector of the island of Roatan, in the Honduran Caribbean, Following an “exchange of information” between the Honduran Naval Force and the Technical Agency for Criminal Investigationthe Public Prosecutor’s Office stated.

According to official figures, the Central American country has seized at least 16,965 kilos of cocaine so far in 2024.

Honduras, and especially its Caribbean coast, has become a strategic point for South American drug trafficking groups that send shipments to the United States, the world’s largest consumer of cocaine.

In 2023, Honduran authorities seized some 4.7 million coca leaves, 561 kilos of cocaine and 107,727 kilos of marijuana.