Shootout on high seas leads to seizure of 2,300 pounds of cocaine, 3 suspects killed off coast of Haiti

Three alleged drug traffickers were killed in an exchange of fire while the police in Haiti confiscated more than 2,300 pounds of cocaine aboard a boat, officials announced on Tuesday in the disturbed Caribbean country.

The police raid took place off the northern coasts of Haiti near the island of turtles where traffickers are suspected of transferring drugs, the Port-de-Paix prosecutor, Jeir Pierre on Tuesday.

Pierre said the police have long posted any action to this place due to a lack of resources, but noted that a regional police director had recently asked for a boat to use around the island of Tortoise.

“We have this area in sight for a long time,” said Pierre.

Police approached an alleged drug trafficking on Sunday and ordered the suspects to raise their hands, but they did not comply and opened fire to the police, said Pierre.

The police were burnt down, with two alleged drug traffickers jumping into the ocean and died later. A third suspected drug trafficker died on shore while a fourth, Bahamas was injured and arrested later, said Pierre.

Police said on social networks that one of the deceased suspects was a Jamaica man.

Police also published images on the social networks of cocaine seized. The photos showed officers alongside drugs, with some of the “Rolex” labeled packages on the front.

Pierre said that no Haitian policeman had been injured.

The American government previously noted that powerful inhabitants in Haiti are involved in the country’s drug trade.

In August 2024, the Department of the US Treasury sanctioned the former Haitian president Michel Martelly, accusing him of having abused his influence to facilitate drug trafficking, including cocaine, intended for the United States

“Many political and commercial elites of Haiti have long been involved in drug trafficking and have been linked to the gangs responsible for violence that has destabilized Haiti,” said the Treasury Department.

Haiti has long been a public transport center for the cocaine movement and other illicit drugs in the United States and the Dominican Republic, according to a report by the United Nations on drugs and crime.

The United Nations office has also noted that some of Haiti’s gangs have greater arsenals than the police because they have become “stronger, richer and more autonomous”.