PORT EVERGLADES, FLA. (WSVN) - The United States Coast Guard offloaded all the big busts they’ve seized at sea recently, totaling a price tag in the hundreds of millions.
The US Coast Guard, alongside US Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI Director Kash Patel, were present during a press conference Wednesday at Port Everglades, where they highlighted an offload of over 48,400 pounds of illicit narcotics.
Officials said the busts came after a major drug operation off the Pacific Coast that has spanned months.
The crew of US Coast Guard Cutter James was seen unloading the narcotics, mostly cocaine and marijuana, worth more than $509 million.
“These drugs are worth over half a billion dollars. Almost 45,000 pounds of cocaine, pure cocaine uncut, and 3,800 pounds of marijuana,” said Bondi.
She praised the efforts of the coast guard crew, who were on patrol for several months, and used a variety of tools for the big bust.
“This team used drones, aircraft and ships to interdict the traffickers off the coast of Peru, Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands,” said Bondi.
U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Thomas Rodzewicz, the commanding officer of cutter James, provided more details into the team’s mission.
“What is not on display though is the incredibly challenging work done by our crew that went into these interdictions. We patrolled an area the size of the continental United States finding the narco-terrorists tiny drug vessels across the vast waters of the Eastern Pacific is equivalent to finding the proverbial needle in the haystack but the crew showed the narco-terrorists that we will find them.”
During the press release, officials discussed the results of the crews of US Coast Guard Cutters James Interdiction at Sea, part of the government’s counter-drug operations in the Eastern Pacific Coast.
“There is no lethal force on planet Earth that is responsible for an overdose death of an American citizen every seven minutes, more so than these foreign terrorist organizations,” said Patel.
“It means 154 lives saved directly from cocaine-related overdose deaths in this country. It means that there are almost 11,000 fewer new cocaine users that are going to be getting access to the drugs. It means that we saved at least $16.5 million on costs related to inmate care and healthcare for people afflicted with these drugs,” said US Coast Guard Vice Admiral Commander Nathan Moore.
Eleven defendants who, officials say, are connected to the cartels and are now being charged. They remain behind bars at an El Salvadorian jail and will be prosecuted in Florida.
“We believe two cartels, CJ and G in Sinaloa, were heavily tied to these shipments,” said US Attorney General Pam Bondi. “This is a major blow to their financial operations and their efforts to distribute drugs throughout our country.”
The Trump administration has promised more joint operations like these will continue off the Pacific Coast to keep these drugs out of the country.
“They will be held accountable. We will take preventive measures and we will scour the ends of the Earth to find every single one of them,” said Patel.
Officials said since February, they have seized 59 tons of narcotics, worth more than $1.5 billion, has been intercepted.
“Our message to the cartel is simple: we own the seas. You do not. We will find you, we will hunt you down, we will stop you before you reach our border, before you can smuggle these drugs into our country,” said Moore.
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