U.S. Coast Guard offloads 12,471 pounds of cocaine valued over $141 million in Miami Beach
Thousands of pounds of cocaine worth over $141 million will never hit the streets after the U.S. Coast Guard, with the help of several other agencies, intercepted the drugs from smugglers in the Caribbean.
On Thursday morning, the USCG offloaded the illicit drugs at the Coast Guard Station in Miami Beach. The USCG said the offload is a culmination of six interdictions conducted by U.S. and international naval agencies and their vessels, including:
- USCG Valiant
- USCG Joseph Doyle
- Royal Netherlands Navy HNLMS Groningen
- Royal Canadian Navy HMCS Harry DeWolf
- USCG Tactical Law Enforcement Team Pacific
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations
According to the USCG, they confiscated the drugs in open waters over the last two months by using planes, thermal imaging and speed boats. As one service member told CBS News Miami, their training really paid off.
"When they zig, he zig, and they zagged, and we zagged," said USCG 3rd-class Machinery Technician Colton Howell, describing a mission they took down drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea.
"Once we got on scene, we were able to use the lights on our small boat and light them up, and we asked them to stop. They didn't comply, so we ended up disabling their vessel."
This interdiction and five other missions produced the 12,471 pounds of drugs, to which Howell said was the largest amount he's ever seen on a patrol. About 17 smugglers were detained during the interdictions. According to the USCG, at least one of the smuggling operations originated in Puerto Rico.
"It's not getting into America," he said. "It's going to be affecting the American people or anyone in America -- keep it off the streets."
Howell said there's no telling if the cocaine was laced with other drugs like fentanyl, but the packages were offloaded and will be handed over to the DEA.
"All the training that we do, and the help of our boat driver and all the like, all of our training paid off," Howell said.
