US Coast Guard Offloads Highest-ever Drug Bust Worth $1.4bn
The US Coast Guard successfully offloaded the biggest quantity of illicit narcotics ever seized in a series of interdictions planned and executed by US, Canadian, and Dutch troops. On August 5, the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter James discharged 59,700 pounds of cocaine and 1,430 pounds of marijuana worth more than $1.4 billion at the Everglades Port.
FleetMon online reports the narcotics were intercepted and retrieved in international seas along the coastlines of Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean Sea. They comprised illegal drugs confiscated and recovered during ten American, Dutch, and Canadian ships’ infiltrations of suspected drug smuggling boats.
Commander Atlantic Area Vice Adm. Steven Poulin said, “The Canadian government and Defence Forces have an incredible capability when it comes to combating transnational organized crime, and I’m grateful to HMCS Shawinigan for demonstrating Canada’s commitment. We will disrupt, defeat, and degrade transnational organized crime if we work together. We will amplify our efforts and continue to enable collaboration and essential development.”
Cutters based in Key West, Port Canaveral, Naval Station Mayport, and Pensacola, Florida, as well as in Charleston, South Carolina, took part in the missions. Additionally, the HNLMS Holland of the Royal Netherlands Navy and the Canadian HMCS Shawinigan made seizures. Multiple US government agencies, such as the Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security departments, and also the Coast Guard, Navy, Customs and Border Protection, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, cooperated to confiscate the illicit drugs before they arrived in the United States.
At-sea interdictions begin with the identification and surveillance of a suspicious ship by allied, military, or law enforcement personnel coordinated by the Joint Interagency Task Force. The Coast Guard’s 11th District, based in Alameda, California, is in charge of the law enforcement aspect of counter-smuggling activities in the Eastern Pacific. The United States Coast Guard leads and conducts interdictions, along with the actual boardings.
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