FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - U.S. Coast Guard officials made history at Port Everglades Monday, offloading a staggering 76,000 pounds of cocaine in what is being hailed as the largest drug seizure in the agency’s history.
“Today we are witness to the largest drug offload in Coast Guard history[…] A total of 76,140 pounds of illegal narcotics,” said Rear Admiral Adam Chamie.
The operation spanned two months across the Pacific and Caribbean and included 19 interdictions, including one off the coast of Haiti two weeks ago, totaling a street value of $473 million.
“If you want to see in general what’s keeping America safe from drugs it’s this—it’s the work they’re doing out there every day, every night, 365, 24/7,” said Rear Admiral Chase Sargeant.
The drug bust is also a record for the Coast Guard cutter Hamilton which was responsible for seizing nearly 50,000 pounds of the drug.
“Most cocaine seized by any cutter during a single deployment in U.S. Coast Guard history,” said Coast Guard cutter Hamilton Capt. John B. McWhite.
Authorities said the large haul was enough to wipe out the state’s population.
“The 61,740 pounds of cocaine represent 23 million potentially lethal doses. That’s enough to fatally overdoes the entire population of the state of Florida. Think about that for a moment, enough cocaine to kill everyone in Florida,” said an official.
Video, shared by the U.S. Coast Guard, shows alleged smugglers tossing bricks of illicit drugs into the ocean as they were being chased.
“These men and women put themselves in harm’s way time and again to stop the bad guys, apprehend the smugglers and seize the drugs,” said Chamie.
Officials said the majority of the drugs were connected to the cartels in Venezuela.
“Each of these interdictions impacts foreign terrorist organizations, the worst of the worst, where it hurts them the most is their wallets ,” said U.S. Attorney Greg Kehoe for the Middle District of Florida.
Crew members say the hardest part of the job is being away from family for a long time, but the sacrifice is worth it.
“All of these interdictions, drugs, it is the result of four months of hard work that the crew has put in,” said U.S. Coast Guard cutter Hamilton Private Frank Marrano. “To be able to take positive steps to keep the U.S. safe from these drugs, it makes the difficult days worth it.”
“The commitment and sacrifice of our servicemembers who work tirelessly around the clock to keep our ship on target and spend significant time away from home. These are the folks that deserve to be celebrated,” said McWhite.
The Coast Guard along its federal partners pledges that operations like this one will continue to keep drugs off of Florida streets.
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