El Salvador seizes vessels with more than 1,500 kilograms of cocaine

San Salvador. El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele reported on Sunday the capture in the Pacific Ocean of three vessels involved in the smuggling of more than 1.5 tons of cocaine and the arrest of their eight crew members, six from Mexico and two from Ecuador.

“The National Navy intercepted the three vessels involved in drug trafficking activities,” the president posted on the X communications platform, in which he recounted the development of the operation.

Bukele said that a few days ago, a boat with three Mexicans was located 450 nautical miles (833.4 kilometers) southwest of Bocana El Cordoncillo, Estero de Jaltepeque, on the central coast of El Salvador.

“They were carrying a radio beacon (an electronic device used to send emergency signals to satellites, which are then retransmitted to search stations), and they had a geographic coordinate written down in a notebook, which indicated the place where they would pick up a load,” the president explained.

Bukele said that two days later, at that coordinate, a second boat was found with two Ecuadorians transporting 1,550 kilograms of cocaine.

“Half an hour later, a third boat with three Mexicans arrived at the same place to pick up the drugs,” he concluded.

He said that the cocaine transported by the Ecuadorian vessel had an estimated value of 38.7 million dollars in the illegal drug trafficking markets, while the drug traffickers of the two Mexican vessels were responsible for the logistical support and receipt of these substances.

Bukele highlighted that in less than 80 days, the National Guard forces have carried out six successful operations against drug trafficking and seized 8.1 tons of drugs, valued at more than 203.8 million dollars.

In previous reports on these actions, Bukele highlighted that the captures have taken place at great distances from the Salvadoran coast, such as this latest one, made more than 833 kilometers from the coast.

El Salvador is located halfway between the cocaine-producing countries of South America, mainly Colombia, and the world’s largest market for these illegal substances, the United States, where the world’s largest mafias operate in this trafficking and money laundering.