US Coast Guard cutter Tahoma returns home after US$12 million drug bust in Eastern Pacific

The crew of the US Coast Guard Famous-class medium endurance cutter Tahoma returned to Kittery, Maine, on Thursday, March 12, after a 70-day counter-drug patrol in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

Tahoma‘s crew seized approximately 317 kilograms of cocaine, valued at US$12.5 million, while working with an armed Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) MH-65 aircraft on board.

The crew had worked with several other US Coast Guard units in the area to detain 27 suspected narcotics traffickers, and interdict 4,354 kilograms of cocaine and 290 kilograms of marijuana.

Tahoma transited through the Panama Canal to conduct counter-drug operations under the tactical control of the Joint Interagency Task Force South in support of Operation Martillo. The operation involves 20 participating nations working together to counter transnational organised crime networks and illicit trafficking in the waters along Central America.