More than 10,000 pounds of cocaine have been confiscated as a result of the first 10 days of Operation Frontier Lance, a joint effort of the Dominican/U.S. military and drug officers in territorial waters. The U.S. naval fleet captured three drug-carrying boats – one in La Mona Channel, between the D.R. and Puerto Rico, another 110 miles off Cabo Falso, Honduras, and the other near the Turks & Caicos Islands off the D.R.’s north coast. The operation primarily seeks to limit activity of drug traffickers operating the Colombia-Haiti-Dominican Republic-Puerto Rico-United States route, using Dominican territorial waters. The naval and air convoy is made up of five Hercules C-130 and Falcon U-25, HH-65 Dolphin helicopters, HH-60 Jayhawk helicopters and several naval units in addition to Dominican Air Force units, two 5-37, 5-34, Bell helicopters, among other equipment. The director of the DNCD, General Luis Humeau Hidalgo, said that since Operation Frontier Lance has begun there has been an increase in number of boats carrying illegal immigrants, as drug smugglers attempt to mislead the fleet.
