A U.S. Coast Guard crew aboard an inflatable small boat maneuvers through open ocean waters carrying seized white contraband bales during a maritime counter-drug operation. Courtesy: USCG
MIAMI, Fla. - Coast Guard crews offloaded $57 million worth of illegal drugs Monday in Port Everglades following two high-seas interdictions in the Caribbean Sea.
Coast Guard drug seizure
What we know:
Crews on the Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba offloaded approximately 7,250 pounds of cocaine and 2,082 pounds of marijuana Monday in Port Everglades.
The seized narcotics resulted from two separate interdictions in the Caribbean Sea by crews from the Escanaba and the Coast Guard Cutter Richard Dixon, working alongside an embarked Coast Guard law enforcement detachment.
A U.S. Coast Guard crew aboard an inflatable small boat maneuvers through open ocean waters carrying seized white contraband bales during a maritime counter-drug operation. Courtesy: USCG
Multiple units contributed to the operation, including Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba, U.S. Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team - Pacific LEDET 101, Coast Guard Cutter Richard Dixon, Homeland Security Cutter-Ocean, Joint Interagency Task Force South, and Coast Guard Southeast District watchstanders.
What they're saying:
Officials said watchstanders made quick, crucial decisions that allowed the ship-wide evolution to succeed. Petty Officer 1st Class Douglas Strong, a boatswain’s mate assigned to Escanaba, said, "A complete ship-wide evolution must go flawlessly for an interdiction like this to happen. It was a textbook team effort that ensured over 2,000 pounds of illicit narcotics never made it into our communities."
Caribbean narcotics interdiction
What we don't know:
Authorities have also not released information regarding whether any suspects were arrested or face legal charges in connection with the seized contraband.
Coast Guard maritime mission
The backstory:
The Coast Guard serves as the lead federal agency for maritime drug interdiction under the Department of Homeland Security. Operations in the Caribbean Sea fall under the authority and control of the Coast Guard Southeast District, which is headquartered in Miami.
Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba is a 270-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Portsmouth, Virginia, operating under U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command. Officials emphasized that persistent rapid-response interdictions deny criminal organizations billions of dollars in revenue while stopping bulk drugs from reaching American cities.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from the U.S. Coast Guard, which detailed the drug offload in an official statement, as well as comments provided by Petty Officer 1st Class Douglas Strong.