More Than Eight Tons Of Pot, Cocaine Offloaded At Port Everglades
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - The Coast Guard offloaded thousands of pounds of seized drugs at Port Everglades on Thursday.
The 14,000 pounds of marijuana and more than 3,600 pounds of cocaine were seized during five separate interdictions in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
"Make no doubt about it, what you see here is profits straight out the of pockets of ruthless transnational criminal organizations that would do harm," said Coast Guard Vice Commandant Admiral Charles Ray.
WEB EXTRA VIDEO: DRUGS ON DECK OF COAST GUARD CUTTER
The missions are dangerous, the cutter crews have to stay sharp.
"It's very important that everybody is on their toes, when something does pop off it's all hands when something does pop off," said machinery tech Joseph Mancina.
The Coast Guard not only tracks suspected smugglers from their cutters but from the air as well.
"It's an adrenaline rush and uh seeing everything come together," said airborne mission commander Kyle Cuttie. "Our presence on board is to be able to facilitate a lot of things that might be more difficult if it was just the surface assets, the ships and small boats chasing another small boat."
The drugs have an estimated value of more than $60 million.