Coast Guard Seizes 50,000 Pounds Of Cocaine, Heroin In High-Seas Drug Busts Since August

1010 WINS -- The U.S. Coast Guard has seized more than 50,000 pounds of cocaine and heroin worth an estimated $679.3 million in San Diego, California since early last month.

The offload was combined from 25 separate seizures by members of the Coast Guard Cutter Stratton and a Navy ship off the coast of Central and South America since Aug. 2.

One high-seas bust netted four arrests after authorities discovered 6,349 pounds of cocaine in a vessel about 450 nautical  southwest of the Guatemala-El Salvador border, prosecutors said.

"The seizure of this cocaine means tens of thousands of pounds won't make it to our communities and hundreds of millions of dollars won't make it into cartel coffers," Acting U.S. Attorney Alana Robinson said in a statement. "To drug traffickers who may think they are invisible in the middle of what seems to be a vast, empty ocean: You are not alone. We are doing everything we can to prevent you from using the high seas as your personal freeway."

"By preventing overdoses and stopping new addictions before they start, enforcing our drug laws saves lives," Attorney General Jeff Sessions said in a statement.

So far in 2017, the Coast Guard has delivered 600 suspected smugglers to the Department of Justice for prosecution.

Coast Guard crews have seized a total of more than 455,000 pounds of cocaine worth over $6 billion this fiscal year.