Coast Guard Offloads At Least $3 Million Worth Of Drugs
MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- Coast Guard crews teamed up Friday to offload more than $3 million worth of cocaine and marijuana.
The estimated 2,100 pounds of marijuana and 35 kilograms of cocaine were intercepted by crews at the beginning of May.
A crew from the Charles Sexton Cutter intercepted a go-fast boat in the Caribbean on the evening of May 3rd.
Five people aboard the suspected vessel , according to the Coast Guard, began to throw bales of contraband overboard and attempted to leave the area.
The crew was able to take all five people into custody and confiscate approximately $2.8 million worth of cocaine and marijuana from the water.
In another instance on May 2nd, another crew intercepted a go-fast boat near the Bahamas. The people on board the boat, abandoned the vessel. When Coast Guard Crews arrived, they recovered $199,600 worth of marijuana.
The 154-foot fast response cutters are being credited for the major busts. The cutters are decked out with more machinery and engines that go faster longer.
"It's the first bust for our fast response cutters which are the newest ships in the fleet right now," said Lt. Lloyd Belcher of the U.S. Coast Guard.