US Coast Guard offloads more than US$160M in narcotics seized in Caribbean Sea
The US Coast Guard says that the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Spencer (WMEC 905) brought over 4,810 kilos of cocaine worth more than US$160.3 million from the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean to Port Everglades, Florida.
Along with the illegal drugs, the US Coast Guard said that eight people suspected of smuggling were also caught. The US Department of Justice will bring charges against them in US federal court.
The US Coast Guard said that the drugs being unloaded were stopped in three different incidents in international waters in the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
The crews were from the US Coast Guard Cutter Spencer (WMEC 905), the USS Milwaukee (LCS 5) with USCG Law Enforcement Detachment 104 on board, the Royal Netherlands Navy Ship HNLMS Holland (P840) with USCG Law Enforcement Detachment 401 on board, and a USCG Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron helicopter.
The US Coast Guard said that at first, a suspicious vessel was “detected and monitored” by US or allied military or law enforcement personnel. This was coordinated by the Joint Interagency Task Force-South, which is based in Key West, Florida.
“Once interdiction is about to happen, the law enforcement part of the operation starts, and the US Coast Guard takes over control of the operation during interdiction and capture.”
It said that the US Coast Guard’s Seventh District, which has its headquarters in Miami and is in charge of interdictions in the Caribbean Sea, does the work.
