WILLEMSTAD – Last Wednesday evening the NH-90 helicopter from the Zr.Ms. Groningen detected a suspicious vessel during a regular patrol flight. The vessel, a yola type boat, sailed from the south towards Curaçao. Immediately after the report from the NH-90 helicopter, the RCC of the Coast Guard dispatched a Metal Shark to the location of the boat.
Many undocumented persons were aboard the suspect vessel. For this reason, a second Metal Shark was dispatched.
The suspect vessel and the persons were all taken to the coast guard jetty at Parera. A total of 44 people of Venezuelan descent, including 29 men and 15 women, were arrested and transferred to the police for further investigation.