A drug bust led to the arrest of a Jamaican national, Rudalph Hylton, during an inspection by the U.S. Coast Guard in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to Local 10, Hylton was apprehended and taken into custody on three federal drug trafficking charges and booked into the Broward County Jail on behalf of the U.S. Marshals Service. Authorities said he was caught trafficking millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine and marijuana on the vessel he was on, traveling from Jamaica to Florida.
The 33-year-old suspect was in a Fort Lauderdale federal court Feb. 23. Also on board with Hylton was another Jamaican national, Aldon Delano Brown.
A federal criminal complaint stated that the crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Richard Etheridge had conducted a routine boarding of the Sea Ray vessel, which was named “Lady B,” in the Atlantic Ocean, located about eight nautical miles northeast of Haulover Inlet.
When officials boarded the 45-foot boat, inspecting the vessel for seaworthiness, members from the Coast Guard boarding team discovered panels that were manipulated, fresh fiberglass work, and “a hidden compartment under the floor inside the vessel’s cabin compartment that was well concealed with a small opening.” Under it, they found 68 bricks of cocaine, about 154 pounds (more than 70 kilograms), and 14 bricks of marijuana, totaling about 12 kilograms, which is approximately 26 pounds.
The complaint said that Hylton told investigators that “he and Brown had taken the vessel to Jamaica from Fort Lauderdale” about a month before this trip and said that while they were on the island, “he was offered $100,000 to take the vessel back to Fort Lauderdale, knowing there (were) illegal narcotics that would be hidden on the vessel.”
Hylton is still in custody and is scheduled to appear before a federal judge for a pre-trial detention hearing on March 2. Although Brown was on board, he was not listed in Broward or federal jail records.
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