US Coast Guard seizes six tonnes of cocaine

By Baird Maritime - May 11, 2018.

Image: Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Lally – A USCG crew member and a crane operator place straps around a pallet of cocaine being offloaded in Port Everglades.

The crew of US Coast Guard cutter James has offloaded six tonnes of cocaine, worth an estimated US$180 million, at Port Everglades.

The narcotics were seized in multiple interceptions in international waters in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

The interdictions took place off the coasts of Central and South America, and Mexico and were made by three Coast Guard cutters between late February and mid-April.

USCGC Bertholf was responsible for one case, seizing 750 kilograms of cocaine. USCGC Bear was responsible for two cases, seizing an estimated 2,734 kilograms of cocaine, and USCGC James was responsible for three cases, seizing an estimated 1,956 kilograms of cocaine.

The cutter James is a 127.4-metre national security cutter homeported in North Charleston, South Carolina.

It comes after the crew of US Coast Guard cutter Resolute offloaded in St Petersburg, Florida, a tonne of marijuana seized during a 71-day deployment in international waters in the Caribbean Sea.
With the assistance of a Customs and Border Protection aircraft crew, Resolute crewmembers interdicted two suspected drug-smuggling vessels carrying a combined total of 1,180 kilograms of marijuana and detained seven suspected drug smugglers as part of Operation Riptide on March 17.

Resolute is a 64-metre Reliance-class cutter with a crew of 81.

The Resolute crew returned from a 71-day deployment on April 28.