The U.S. Coast Guard just offloaded almost 46,000 pounds of illegal drugs at Port Everglades in Florida. According to The United States Coast Guard’s press release on the matter, the crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stone seized the illicit narcotics on Thursday. The drugs were worth more than $517.5 million.
“The seized contraband was the result of 14 interdictions in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, and 35 suspected smugglers were transferred ashore to face federal prosecution in U.S. courts,” the press release revealed.
The US Coast Guard Just Offloaded 46,000 Pounds of Drugs Worth $500M
“You heard it said before that the Coast Guard’s national security cutters are game changers in the counter-drug mission, but they still require a crew of men and women willing to serve on or over the sea and place themselves in harm’s way,” said Capt. Jonathan Carter, commanding officer of Stone.
“I’m incredibly proud of our crew’s performance and their efforts to combat narco-terrorism this deployment. In one exceptional case, the crew interdicted four go-fast vessels in 15 minutes, seizing nearly 11,000 pounds of cocaine that will never be mixed with deadly fentanyl to threaten American lives here at home.”
“Our efforts to defend Americans at home begins with denying drug traffickers access to maritime routes and disrupting the flow far out at sea where we operate alongside interagency and strategic regional partners like Costa Rica,” added Cmdr. David Ratner, commanding officer of Mohawk.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem spoke at the port yesterday about the success of the crew members.
“Today is a historic day,” she said. “Here at Port Everglades, over 22.5 tons, or 45,000 pounds, of cocaine and 50 pounds of marijuana, valued at over half a billion dollars, are going to be offloaded and taken out of circulation.”
“That means that fewer families are going to be torn apart by addiction,” Noem continued. “That fewer lives are going to be lost to overdoses, that communities will be safer and fewer resources will be at the hands of dangerous violent cartels that seek to do us all harm.”
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