The US Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton is scheduled to offload approximately 7 tons of cocaine worth an estimated $190 million wholesale.
The cutter will offload the narcotics on February 13 in Port Everglades, Florida.
The drugs were interdicted in seven separate interdictions off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America by multiple US Coast Guard cutters.
“The hard work of all our servicemen and women, along with our allied partners, directly contributed to the interdiction of 7 tons of cocaine at sea,” said Capt. Mark Gordon, cutter Hamilton commanding officer. “It truly is a team effort stopping these drugs from entering the United States, but more important than the drugs themselves are the arrests and the linkages these cases represent and the steps closer to dismantling the criminal networks that tried to move them into the United States.”
The Coast Guard increased US and allied presence in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Basin, which are known drug transit zones off of Central and South America, as part of its Western Hemisphere Strategy. During at-sea interdictions in international waters, a suspect vessel is initially located and tracked by allied, military or law enforcement personnel. The interdictions, including the actual boarding, are led and conducted by US Coast Guardsmen. The law enforcement phase of counter-smuggling operations in the Eastern Pacific are conducted under the authority of the Coast Guard 11th District headquartered in Alameda, California.