MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - The United States Coast Guard has offloaded over 27,000 pounds of cocaine.
Officials returned from a drug bust to the Coast Guard base in Miami Beach on Friday morning.
The Coast Guard Cutter Tampa crew is responsible for the seizure in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
“It’s truly all hands on deck,” USCG Commanding Officer Nicholas Simmons said, “from the minute we take in the lines at our home port in Virginia until we return. In this case, after 85 days.”
Six U.S. Coast Guard cutters interdicted 12 separate vessels off the coasts of Mexico, Central America and South America.
Officials said they seized 13 metric tons of cocaine estimated to be worth $360 million wholesale.
The seizure was a collaborative effort of 300 service members at sea and in the air.
“They all teamed together to catch this in bulk form,” USCG Vice Admiral Daniel Abel said. “If you catch it by the tons, you do not have to chase it by the kilos in the streets of Miami.”
While the operation, from January to March, was a daunting and risky task, it’s the rewarding feeling at the end of it that keeps those serving going.
“It’s definitely an experience when that alarm goes off at 3 in the morning and you’re gone for the next 12 to 14 hours, during that boarding and seizing the contraband, bringing the members back on board,” Boarding Officer Michael Black said.
Coast Guard officials believe they have saved many lives with the massive seizure.
“For each metric ton, it’s estimated that that metric ton could kill 11 Americans,” Abel said. “That metric ton could send a thousand to an emergency room with an overdose. That metric ton could start 11,000 American citizens on an addiction.”
The cocaine busts were conducted off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America.
Some of the cocaine will be sent to the Drug Enforcement Administration to be destroyed.
The rest will be chemically tested and used to prosecute the people arrested.
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