Some 1,200 kilograms of cocaine were seized and seven people were arrested aboard a Ro-Ro cargo vessel Oceanic 1 in the morning hours of March 5 while the vessel was in the Caribbean Sea off Aruba, according to the Dutch coast guard.
The Dutch officials, working on the basis of information provided by the authorities in San Jose, deployed the coast guard cutter Jaguar to the scene.
As the crew aboard the 1981-built vessel saw the cutter approaching, they tried to flee, however the coast guard personnel caught up with them and boarded the vessel, where they conducted an inspection and found the illegal cargo.
The cocaine and the arrested persons were transferred to the public prosecutor in Aruba.
Another search operation was conducted aboard the vessel on Sunday. The officials did not find any further evidence of the illegal cargo.
According to the coast guard, the Honduras-flagged Oceanic 1 departed the international waters of Aruba and was at anchor between Aruba and Venezuela before the coast guard officials approached it.
World Maritime News Staff