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More than 1.3 tons of cocaine seized in the Caribbean Sea as suspects abandon ship
More than 1.3 million tons of cocaine was seized from boats during three separate operations in the Caribbean Sea off Colombia, the country’s Navy said Thursday, and the crew members of one of the suspicious vessels abandoned ship when they saw authorities closing in.
In total, the Colombian Navy and air force seized 1,342 kilograms of cocaine that would be valued at $45 million on the international illegal market, officials said in a news release.
Authorities said the first operation was carried out near Tintipán Island off the country’s north coast. Units from the coast guard working with an Air Force plane “detected a suspicious vessel” in the area. After noticing the authorities approaching, the crew members “fled the scene, leaving the boat abandoned,” the Navy said, without disclosing whether the suspects were captured or managed to escape. Officials who boarded the vessel said they found 21 packages containing 526 kilos of cocaine.
During a second operation in the Caribbean, marine and air force units detected a motor boat moving “at high speeds” near the border with Venezuela. Officials said they seized 736 kilograms of cocaine, divided into 22 bags. Two Dominican citizens who crewed the boat were arrested.
In a third operation, coast guard and naval units intercepted a boat that was sailing suspiciously near the border with Panama. Two crewmembers were arrested after 79 kilograms of cocaine was found on board.
The Colombia Navy released aerial video showing two of the seizures.
#ContundenciaOperacional | Incautadas más de 1.3 toneladas de clorhidrato de cocaína en el Caribe, avaluados en 45 millones de dólares en el mercado ilegal internacional.
Lee más👉 https://t.co/u5LSf0YOIn pic.twitter.com/IZhKYEJdKd
— Armada de Colombia (@ArmadaColombia) February 8, 2024
“These seizures directly affect the criminal organizations at the service of international narcotics trafficking, their capacity for coercion against the civilian population and more than 45 million dollars that will not enter their criminal coffers,” the military said in a statement.
In addition to regular speedboats, semi-submersibles, or “narco subs,” are popular among drug traffickers in Colombia as they can potentially elude detection by authorities. The vessels never go fully underwater, and they are sometimes intercepted in Colombian waters while heading to the United States, Central America and Europe.
Colombia produces about 60% of the cocaine found in the world. A report released in September by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime found that potential coca production in the country had risen by 24% since 2021.
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The International Brotherhood of Teamsters says workers at seven Amazon facilities will begin a strike Thursday morning in an effort by the union to pressure the e-commerce giant for a labor agreement during a key shopping period.
The Teamsters say the workers, who authorized walkouts in the past few days, are joining the picket line after Amazon ignored a Dec. 15 deadline the union set for contract negotiations. Amazon says it doesn’t expect any impact on its operations during what the union calls the largest strike against the company in U.S. history.
The Teamsters say they represent nearly 10,000 workers at 10 Amazon facilities, a small portion of the 1.5 million people Amazon employs in its warehouses and corporate offices.
Amazon is ranked No. 2 on the Fortune 500 list of the nation’s largest companies.
At a warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island, thousands of workers who voted for the Amazon Labor Union in 2022 and have since affiliated with the Teamsters. At the other facilities, employees – including many delivery drivers – have unionized with them by demonstrating majority support but without holding government-administered elections.
The strikes happening Thursday are taking place at an Amazon warehouse in San Francisco and six delivery stations in southern California, New York City, Atlanta and the Chicago suburb of Skokie, Illinois, according to the union’s announcement. Amazon workers at the other facilities are “prepared to join” them, the union said.
“Amazon is pushing its workers closer to the picket line by failing to show them the respect they have earned,” Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed. We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do right by our members. They ignored it,” he said.
The Seattle-based online retailer has been seeking to re-do the election that led to the union victory at the warehouse on Staten Island, which the Teamsters now represent. In the process, the company has filed a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the National Labor Relations Board.
Meanwhile, Amazon says the delivery drivers, which the Teamsters have organized for more than a year, aren’t its employees. Under its business model, the drivers work for third-party businesses, called Delivery Service Partners, who drop off millions of packages to customers everyday.
“For more than a year now, the Teamsters have continued to intentionally mislead the public – claiming that they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’. They don’t, and this is another attempt to push a false narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement. “The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union.“
The Teamsters have argued Amazon essentially controls everything the drivers do and should be classified as an employer.
Some U.S. labor regulators have sided with the union in filings made before the NLRB. In September, Amazon boosted pay for the drivers amid the growing pressure.
NEW YORK — The Teamsters union is launching a strike against Amazon at numerous locations across the country, including in Maspeth, Queens.
The Teamsters are calling it the largest strike against Amazon in United States history, and it’s set to begin at 6 a.m. Thursday. In addition to New York City, workers will be joining picket lines in Atlanta, Southern California, San Francisco and Illinois.
In a video announcement released Wednesday night, workers voiced their frustrations.
“Us being strike ready means we’re fed up, and Amazon is clearly ignoring us and we want to be heard,” one worker says in the video.
“It’s really exciting. We’re taking steps for ourselves to win better conditions, better benefits, better wages,” another worker in the video says.
The union says it represents about 10,000 Amazon employees and that Amazon ignored a deadline to come to the table and negotiate. The $2 trillion company doesn’t pay employees enough to make ends meet, the union asserts.
At the height of the holiday season, many are wondering what this means for packages currently in transit.
Teamsters President Sean O’Brien said, “If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed.”
Amazon says Teamsters are misleading the public
An Amazon spokesperson says the Teamsters are misleading the public and do not represent any Amazon employees, despite any claims.
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair labor practice charges against the union,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
An Amazon representative says the company doesn’t expect operations to be impacted.
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