The US Coast Guard has arrested three suspected gangbangers aboard a migrant ship bound for US soil – who were wanted for a 2020 shooting in Puerto Rico that left four people dead.
The migrant ship was spotted Friday by a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol aircraft and intercepted by Coast Guard Cutter Winslow Griesser in Mona Passage, officials said.
The three suspects were arrested and handed over to a Dominican navy ship, the coast guard said in a statement Tuesday.
“Our strong partnerships and daily collaboration between all partner federal agencies involved in this case as well as the Dominican Republic Navy and Dominican law enforcement authorities enabled the safe repatriation of five migrants and the arrest of three wanted American citizens,” said Lt. Vincente Garcia. , Coast Guard liaison to the Dominican Republic.
“These efforts are essential to achieving regional stability and protecting our country’s southernmost maritime border from the dangers and threats associated with illegal migration and other widespread illicit maritime activities,” Garcia added.
The Coast Guard has not released the names of the suspects.
The maritime enforcement agency intercepted 932 migrants trying to reach the United States through the Mona Passage, the body of water between Puerto Rico and the island of Hispaniola.
Among them, 890 were Dominican, 41 Haitian and one Venezuelan, the coast guard said.
Over the course of a single weekend earlier this month, 101 migrants attempting to reach the United States illegally were cut off by the Coast Guard and extradited back home.
Most recently, the Coast Guard intercepted 16 Cuban migrants trying to reach Florida aboard a rickety homemade boat. — among the 384 migrants from the socialist island recovered since October 1.
New York Post
