Coast Guard Makes High Seas Cocaine Seizure Worth $100M
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – The U.S. Coast Guard has made a trio of high seas drug seizures worth $100 million.
In the first, Coast Guard crew members recovered $55 million worth of cocaine found floating off Florida's east coast.
Crewmembers from the Coast Guard Cutter Tampa found more than 5,000 pounds of cocaine in the water Wednesday after smugglers aboard a boat dumped the drugs in an attempt to escape officers.
The smugglers got away but without their cocaine.
The smugglers were first spotted by a crew aboard a Canadian patrol plane working in the area.
A Coast Guard helicopter crew and the Tampa were then called in to stop the vessel.
In St. Petersburg Wednesday, the crew of the Coast Guard cutter Decisive offloaded 3,967 pounds of cocaine seized from two law enforcement cases.
The two interdictions were a result of a multi-agency law enforcement effort in support of Operation Unified Resolve.
The drug shipments are estimated to have a combined wholesale value of over $45 million.
The first interdiction took place on Nov. 25th. Authorities seized 2,094 pounds of cocaine south of the Dominican Republic.
Two days later, the Coast Guard seized another 1,873 pounds of cocaine from a sailboat during an at-sea interdiction south of the Dominican Republic.
Over the past five months, the Coast Guard has seized, under Operation Unified Resolve, in partnership with regional law enforcement authorities in the Caribbean, 20,895 pounds of cocaine and 6,900 pounds of marijuana during 15 law enforcement cases.
The wholesale value of these seizures is worth $262 million.
