Four Caribbean Men Picked Up By Dutch Coast Guard With 992 Pounds of Cocaine

John McCarthyPosted oninAt VIFreep, Breaking News, British Virgin Islands News, Caribbean News, Crime News, Military News, Police News, Sint Maarten News

PHILIPSBURG — Four men have been arrested in Sint Maarten by the Netherlands Coastguard in a drug bust netting 992 pounds of cocaine, authorities said.

The men from the British Virgin Islands, St. Kitts & Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago are now in Dutch official custody for allegedly smuggling 450 kilos of cocaine into the region, according to SMN News.

The unidentified alleged Sint Maarten drug smugglers. Photo by Bibi Shaw.

Re­ports as of late Sunday said the Netherlands Coastguard was not divulging relevant information on the case yet.

It was not clear from regional media reports if the men were arrested at sea or on land.

The only information released to the media said that Dutch law enforcement officials are busy working on the case right now.

John McCarthy

John F. McCarthy is a veteran journalist in the Caribbean, writing from the "Decision Space" where survival meets the surreal. His reporting steel was tempered by a lineage of legendary editors and broadcasters, including Ed Wynn Brant (The Bomb), Owen Eschenroder (Ann Arbor News), Lynelle Emanuel (BVI Beacon), and Charles Thanas (WSVI-TV). Alongside longtime colleague Kenneth C. "Casey" Clark, McCarthy has navigated the front lines of the territory’s history—from the 1997 volcanic "snow" to every major hurricane since Hugo. Known for leaning out of doorless helicopters to capture the "money shot," McCarthy now edits the V.I. Free Press, providing the essential link between the island's colonial past and its SpaceX future.