Destroyer USS Pinckney scores second drug bust in three days

The Arleigh Burke-class Destroyer USS Pinckney and its embarked US Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) personnel seized over 2,700 kilograms of suspected cocaine in the Eastern Pacific on May 16, the US Navy said in a statement on Wednesday, May 27.

After a US Navy maritime patrol aircraft first spotted the suspect semi-submersible vessel, Pinckney was vectored for a long-range intercept. Upon interception, the destroyer employed one of its embarked helicopters to provide overwatch and ensure compliance while the embarked LEDET personnel on small boats achieved positive control of the semi-submersible.

Pinckney and the embarked coast guard personnel recovered a total of 136 bales of suspected cocaine totaling an estimated 2,700 kilograms, with a potential wholesale value worth over US$54.3 million.

The seizure of narcotics comes just two days after Pinckney‘s first successful interdiction of another drug-smuggling vessel in the Eastern Pacific.