Record $1.4 billion in cocaine and just weed seized by Coast Guard in Florida
(The AEGIS Alliance) – So this is why they’re called the “high seas!”
The Coast Guard seized cocaine and just some marijuana with a street value of an estimated $1.4 billion in South Florida on Thursday, a record-breaking seizure in the history of the Coast Guard.
“It’s historic,” Vice Admiral Steven Poulin pointed out in a news conference. “It’s a result of the combined efforts of our interagency partners and a dedicated international coalition.”
The Coast Guard cutter James located the 59,700 pounds of cocaine as well as 1,430 pounds of weed in 20 confiscations ranging from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, armed forces leaders stated. The crew was supported by a Canadian ship called the HMCS Shawinigan.
4 out of the 20 seizures took place in only 10 days, authorities mentioned.
“As you can imagine, finding a small boat in the Caribbean that doesn’t want to be found is like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Shawinigan’s Commander Bill Sanson stated. “And boarding those vessels in 10-foot seas, gale-force winds at night is not for the faint of heart.”
The drugs had been unloaded in Fort Lauderdale in the Port Everglades. The Coast Guard typically unloads drugs there that are confiscated at sea. An approximated $400 million worth of contraband had been offloaded at the same port in December of 2020.
“Every bale of cocaine on this flight deck that doesn’t make it to our shores represents lives saved in New York City, Philly, Chicago, Los Angeles, or any small town in the U.S. that’s dealing with pandemic levels of drug overdoses this year,” James’ Commanding Officer, Captain Todd Vance stated.
Jeffrey Childers – The AEGIS Alliance – This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
