Some one hundred  and twenty Dominicans are  being closely guarded by Bahamian law enforcement officials and are expected to be charged after  a shootout on the high seas.  The incident  resulted in the capture three Dominican motherships this past weekend by the Cuban Border Patrol.  

  From all reports, the Dominicans illegally entered Cuban waters after being pursued by the Defence Force for poaching in The Bahamas. 

It all began this past Wednesday, when the U.S Coast Guard Cutter “Vigilant” sighted a Dominican fishing vessel north of the Republic of Haiti. 

The Dominicans indicated they were en route to The Bahamas. 

The Defense Force was subsequently notified and the HMBS Madeira was directed to intercept the vessel, in the event it entered Bahamian waters. 

The HMBS Madeira later sighted the three vessels at daybreak on Saturday with skiffs in the water near Cay Lobos – a small cay on the southern edge of the Great Bahama Bank. 

A team was deployed to apprehend the motherships before they entered Cuban waters. 

This is when things turned violent as the Dominican fishermen opened fire on the team. 

In self defense, Madeira’s boarding party returned fire, hitting one of the three steel-hulled vessels that eventually ran aground in Cuban waters while trying to escape.

None of the Defense Force boarding team members were injured during the incident, and the RBDF got assistance from the Cuban government in apprehending the vessels with 124 crewmembers. 

This is not the first such apprehension involving the HMBS Madeira.

Back in July,  it apprehended another Dominican fishing vessel attempting to again flee into Cuban waters.

The captain and 46 crewmembers were subsequently caught, charged and fined $53,000 each totaling more than $2.3 million dollars.