PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Three suspected drug traffickers were killed in an exchange of fire as police in Haiti confiscated more than 2,300 pounds (1,000 kilograms) of cocaine aboard a boat, officials said Tuesday, in a rare drug seizure in the troubled Caribbean country.

The police raid took place off the coast of northern Haiti near Tortue Island where traffickers are suspected of transferring drugs, Port-de-Paix prosecutor Jeir Pierre told Radio Caraïbes on Tuesday.

Pierre said police have long postponed any action at that location because of a lack of resources.

Police approached a suspected drug trafficking boat on Sunday and ordered the suspects aboard to raise their hands, but they did not comply and instead opened fire at the officers, Pierre said.

Officers returned fire, with two suspected drug traffickers jumping into the ocean and later dying. A third suspected drug trafficker died on shore while a fourth one, from the Bahamas, was injured and later arrested, Pierre said.

— The Associated Press