The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday offloaded a record-setting 38 tons of cocaine and marijuana — valued at around $470 million — at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale that the agency said it intercepted during multiple patrols in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea over the summer.
The 61,740 pounds of cocaine and 14,400 pounds of marijuana was the largest narcotics offload in the Coast Guard’s history, the agency said.
“To put this into perspective, the potential 23 million lethal doses of cocaine seized by the U.S. Coast Guard and our partners, are enough to fatally overdose the entire population of the state of Florida, underscoring the immense threat posed by transnational drug trafficking to our nation,” Rear Adm. Adam Chamie, Coast Guard Southeast District commander, said in a statement.
The Coast Guard wasn’t alone in the joint task force mission. Also taking part in the patrols were the U.S. Navy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations and a ship from the Royal Netherlands Navy.
But, most of the 19 interdictions at sea were done by sailors from the Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton, the ship that brought the contraband back home Monday.
“Team Hamilton with our partners, worked incredibly hard the last several months to safeguard the American public from the dangers of illicit narcotics entering the United States,” Capt. John B. McWhite, commanding officer of the 418-foot ship. “The crew interdicted 11 go-fast vessels, detained 34 suspected drug traffickers, and seized a record 47,000 pounds of cocaine. The commitment and sacrifice of our deployed service members and their families, who forego time together for the protection of our Nation, are to be celebrated.”
Some of the most notable interdictions, according to the agency:
On June 26, aircrews spotted two speed boats about 115 miles southeast of the Galapagos Islands in Ecuador. After a Coast Guard helicopter forced them to stop using “airborne use of force tactics,” meaning either shooting out the vessels’ engines or firing rounds across their bows, the boats stopped, the agency said. Boarding teams seized 8,800 pounds of cocaine, the Coast Guard said.
On July 23, a Hamilton based helicopter crew went after a speed boat under way about 88 miles southeast of Socorro Island, Mexico. The crew again used tactics to stop it. A boarding team then raided the boat, which was hauling 9,160 pouds of cocaine, the Coast Guard said.
On Aug. 18, the Navy’s USS Minneapolis Saint Paul’s boarding team raided a speed boat about 130 miles sourh of Jamaica. The boat’s cargo was 6,425 pounds of cocaine, according to the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard noted in its announcement that 80 percent of illegal drugs stopped from coming into the U.S. are intercepted on the high seas. The patrol in the Eastern Pacific is part of an ongoing Coast Guard-led mission called Operation Pacific Viper aimed at stopping South American-based cocaine smuggling efforts.
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