MIAMI (WSVN) - The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Margaret Norvell offloaded over 1,850 pounds of cocaine, valued at approximately $24.3 million, in Miami on Friday.
The crew intercepted a low-profile go-fast vessel carrying 30 bales of the illicit narcotics and detained five suspected smugglers about 190 miles south of Puerto Rico, the USCG said in a news release.
“I am incredibly proud of our crew,” said Lt. Cmdr. Colin Weaver, Commanding Officer of Cutter Margaret Norvell. “Countering drug trafficking organizations that operate throughout the Caribbean depends upon the international and interagency partnerships that JIATF-S and Joint Task Force-East bring to the fight.”
The suspected smugglers will face prosecution in federal courts by the Department of Justice.
The Margaret Norvell crew deployed with two boarding officers from Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team-South (TACLET-S) based in Opa Locka, Florida, as part of the Coast Guard’s deployable specialized forces program.
“Drug busts like this one by Margaret Norvell’s crew save lives by reducing the flow of harmful narcotics to the United States and disrupting the illicit maritime activity of transnational criminal organizations,” said Capt. John B. McWhite, chief of enforcement for Coast Guard District Seven.
The USCG said that detecting and interdicting illegal drug traffickers on the high seas involves significant interagency and international coordination, with operations overseen by the Coast Guard’s Seventh District, headquartered in Miami.
The cutter Margaret Norvell is one of 20 Sentinel-class fast response cutters homeported in the Seventh District, tasked with homeland security missions including drug and migrant interdiction.
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