Police on St. Croix are investigating the arrival to the island of yet another boat suspected to have been involved in drug-smuggling.
Law-enforcement officials were alerted to a suspicious boat Sunday afternoon off of St. Croix’s north shore. When police arrived at Salt River Marina to investigate, they found a 34-foot fishing boat equipped with extra-large gas tanks but no crew aboard.
According to the V.I. Daily News, witnesses said they saw two men come ashore from the boat carrying a container the size of an ice chest and get into a pickup truck minutes before police arrived. Police were quoted as saying the boat was outfitted for smuggling. There was no indication as to whether any illegal drugs were found on board.
Sunday’s incident followed two others involving vessels suspected to be drug boats that have turned up at St. Croix in the last month and a half.
After a 27-foot "go-fast" boat encountered trouble in the waters off St. Croix’s south shore in late July, bales of cocaine totaling more than 500 pounds started washing up on island beaches. The crew members of that boat, all from the Dominican Republic, were picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard and turned over to authorities in Sint Maarten, where the boat was registered.
A few weeks later, some 60 pounds of cocaine was found aboard another speedboat that had been abandoned at the seaplane dock in Watergut on the outskirts of Christiansted. Police officials said they have no suspects in that case.
