Willemstad- Early this morning, the Dutch Caribbean Coastguard detained a vessel with a total of twenty-six undocumented Venezuelans, close to the coast of Curaçao.

The suspicious vessel was detected by the Dash-8 maritime patrol aircraft of the Coastguard south of the eastern point of Curaçao. Two Super RHIB’s from the Coastguard sub-station Curaçao were deployed. The Dash-8 directed them to the suspicious contact and around 02.35 hours.

The vessel was intercepted, two nautical miles south of the eastern point. There were twenty-six (26) people on board, all of them with the Venezuelan nationality. The vessel was taken to the sub-station in Parera. Upon arrival, all of the occupants whereof seventeen (17) men and nine (9) women after being frisked, were transferred to the Police. The case is under further investigation.