Dominican Republic says it seized cocaine that was on speedboat destroyed by US Navy

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BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Authorities in the Dominican Republic said Sunday they have confiscated some of the cocaine transported by a speedboat that was destroyed recently by the U.S. Navy, as the Trump administration carries out a controversial anti-narcotics mission in the southern Caribbean.

In a press conference, the Dominican Republic’s National Directorate for Drug Control said it recovered 377 packages of cocaine from the boat which was allegedly carrying 1,000 kilograms of the drug.

Officials said the boat was destroyed about 80 nautical miles south of Isla Beata, a small island that belongs to the Dominican Republic. They said the Dominican’s Republic Navy worked in conjunction with U.S. authorities to locate the speedboat which was allegedly trying to dock in the Dominican Republic and use the nation as a “bridge” to transport cocaine to 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 directorate said in a statement.

In August, the U.S. sent eight warships and a submarine to the southern Caribbean, in what the Trump administration has said was a mission to fight drug trafficking.

The White House says the flotilla has destroyed three speedboats carrying drugs so far in separate strikes that have killed more than a dozen people aboard the vessels.

Human rights groups have said the strikes on the boats amount to extra judicial killings, and on Friday two Democratic senators introduced a resolution in Congress that seeks to block the administration from carrying out further strikes.

The Trump administration says at least two of the boats that have been sunk left from Venezuela, whose president is often described by White House officials as a drug trafficker and leader of a gang known as the Cartel of the Suns.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro denies the charges and has described the U.S naval build up in the Caribbean as an attack on his country.