The Venezuelan official made his remarks to the press at the naval base in Puerto Cabello, the country’s biggest port, where the drug-smuggling ship and the navy vessels that nabbed it are docked.

El Aissami confirmed the arrest of six people, five Hondurans and a Colombian – though previously the authorities spoke of seven – identified as the Hondurans Jackson Johnson Warren Roy, Jose Angel Chinchilla Gonzalez, Sony Oliver McField Pandy, Olvin Alexis Tatun Guillen, Jimmy Rafael Jackson Chavez, Stamp Jhon Colton and the Colombian Washington Diaz Minotta.

The Venezuelan-flagged Titan was boarded 90 miles west of the archipelago of Los Monjes after the French navy notified Venezuelan authorities that a suspect vessel was sailing in those waters.

The ship set sail from Puerto Bolivar, Colombia, on Feb. 9th bound for Honduras.

El Aissami said that the drug was hidden in what looked like a fuel tank.

Taking part in the operation was the Venezuelan patrol boat Guaicamacuto, in what was its first major intervention in the war on drugs since joining the Venezuelan fleet in March 2010 following its construction at the Spanish shipyard of Navantia.

Capt. Alfredo Pulido of the Guaicamacuto, who commanded the operation, noted the vessel’s ability to intervene rapidly
“in detecting and detaining contraband at sea, which allowed the suspicious ship to be caught.”

He also mentioned its fitness for stopping and boarding vessels via a ramp on the stern that gets speedboats into the water fast to carry out their work of interception.