On the evening of 26 October 2021, the Antilles-Guyane patrol vessel La Combattante intercepted an unflagged yole south of Martinique suspected of drug trafficking.[1] Two men of Saint Lucian nationality were aboard the boat.[2] At the request of the Fort-de-France prosecutor, the two crew members, the cargo and the boat were handed over to the Caribbean branch of the anti-narcotics office (OFAST).[1] Investigators immediately placed both men in police custody.[1] Tried in immediate proceedings on 29 October 2021, both men were sentenced by the Fort-de-France criminal court to three years in prison.[1] The court also banned them from holding or carrying a weapon and from French territory for five years.[1]

Aboard the yole, the crew found two loaded handguns, 55 kilos of cannabis and 24 kilos of contraband tobacco.[1] Authorities described the seized drugs as a loss of more than one million euros in resale value for regional drug trafficking.[1]

The operation was the armed forces’ seventh drug seizure of the year in the Antilles and the only one involving cannabis.[1] Since the start of the year, maritime enforcement in the Antilles had removed more than 11 tonnes of cocaine from the market, including 6.8 tonnes through the armed forces.[1]