Three charged after 3,715-pound cocaine bust off Miami Beach
Miami Herald • • nation
Key Points:
- The U.S. Coast Guard seized over 3,500 pounds of cocaine worth approximately $28 million during a routine inspection near Government Cut, marking the largest cocaine haul by the Miami Beach station since 1995.
- The cocaine was found hidden in more than 1,000 packages inside secret compartments on the 65-foot sports fishing vessel "Best Bet," which had not checked in with Customs and Border Protection.
- Three men aboard the vessel—Captain Joseito Diaz De Oleo, Erasme Catalino Paulino Rodriguez, and Ober Alexander Villavicencio Jimenez—were arrested; two admitted they were hired in the Dominican Republic to smuggle the drugs from Turks and Caicos to Miami for $100,000.