PORT EVERGLADES, FLA. (WSVN) - The U.S. Coast Guard offloaded millions of dollars’ worth of drugs at Port Everglades as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to sweep the sea clean of illegal narcotics.
Several U.S. government officials joined USCG officials on board the Coast Guard’s Cutter Stone on Wednesday morning to announce the major drug seizure: more than 49,000 pounds of cocaine that officials said was headed to the United States.
“Our message to the cartels is clear: We own the sea, not you,” said USCG Vice Adm. Nathan Moore. “We will find you, we will hunt you down and stop you if you wish to do this nation harm.”
Officials called the operation historic, saying this was the largest seizure by a single cutter during a single patrol in the Coast Guard’s history.
The drugs carry a street value of more than $362 million.
“Every narcotics movement we interdict saves American lives and makes our nation safer,” said USCG Rear Adm. Jeffrey Randall.
USCG officials said the offload is the result of at least 13 interceptions in the Eastern Pacific Ocean over the last few months. Three of them took place over a single night.
“We used our armed helicopter to stop the vessels. We take the presumed smugglers on board our ship as detainees, and then we confiscate the contraband,” said USGC Capt. Anne O’Connell, the Cutter Stone’s commanding officer. “Then they are turned over either to – they’ve been turned over to Ecuador or their country of origin for prosecution.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard applauded the crew members who pulled off the interdictions.
“This kind of investment is what has unleashed the Coast Guard to be able to deliver the kind of historic results that these men and women signed up to do,” she said.
This latest seizure comes just three months after the Coast Guard announced their largest drug bust to date, also at Port Everglades.
It comes as tensions continue to rise in the Caribbean, as the United States carries out military strikes on boats suspected of smuggling drugs.
Under President Donald Trump, the military has blown up at least 21 vessels in both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean since early September, killing at least 83 people, according to the Pentagon. The most recent strike happened over the weekend.
Trump addressed the military’s latest efforts on Sunday.
“It was stopping drug dealers and drugs from coming into our country,” he said. “We’re not letting drugs come through Mexico, we’re not letting them come through Venezuela.”
Trump and other top officials said the boats are being operated by narco-terrorists and cartel members, with deadly drugs headed for the U.S. Now the U.S. has the world’s largest aircraft carrier on standby in the Caribbean Sea, along with 15,000 troops and fighter jets, as part of Operation Southern Spear.
“We’re going to stop the flow of deadly drugs into our country, we’re going to secure our border, we’re going to protect the American people,” said Department of State spokesperson Tommy Pigott.
“In Venezuela’s case, it’s about drugs, and it’s also about thousands, hundreds of thousands of people that they’ve released into our country,” said Trump, “and some are gang members from Tren de Aragua, some are – many are drug dealers, some are murderers. So, in the case of Venezuela, it’s about – it’s the prison population.”
But some lawmakers are pushing for proof the boats were carrying drugs to the U.S. in the first place.
“One wants a war with Venezuela, to the extent they’re claiming it has something to do with the drug trade coming to the United States,” said U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., during an interview with ABC News.
USCG officials said the narcotics will be turned over, and the Cutter Stone will head back to South Carolina.
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