Customs agents and drug enforcement officials in Miami have seized cocaine with a street value of twenty-three million dollars on board several boats from Haiti.

The drugs were hidden in concealed compartments in four of nine vessels searched by the authorities in the last few days.

No one has been arrested.

Officials said they became suspicious because the freighters were arriving in Miami empty, and departing with unprofitable goods for sale back in Haiti.

US officials estimate that about twelve percent of the cocaine smuggled into the US passes through the island of Hispaniola, which is shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic.Last month, senior US officials called on Haiti to take tougher action against drug-traffickers using the country as a transit point.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service