On Thursday, the United States Coast Guard pulled into the port of San Diego and off loaded over 14 tons of cocaine that they had previously seized through three months of interdictions. Between January and the end of March this year, the Coast Guard had intercepted and boarded drug carrying vessels headed for the United States from many parts of Latin America.
The huge haul was unloaded from Coast Guard cutters with gigantic cranes and placed on the dock. The United States Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) will take formal possession of the Coast Guard’s haul. The seizure was the result of a coordinated effort by the Coast Guard and the US Navy and was the result of 13 direct interdictions. All of the captured vessels were from Central and South America and there was one incident where huge bales of cocaine were just floating out on the open ocean.
Coast Guard Rear Admiral Joseph Servidio commented that, “Taking tons of deadly drugs off the street and apprehending dozens of suspected smugglers not only saves lives here at home, but it also disrupts the efforts of international drug trafficking organizations who spread violence and instability wherever they operate.”
In one seizure, that contained nearly half of the entire haul, the Coast Guard seized and boarded a small submarine like vessel that contained 6.4 tons of cocaine. The entire seizure of 14 tons has an estimated value on the street of more than $400 million. Most of the other seizures came from disguised fishing boats that were capable of extremely high speeds in efforts to outrun the Navy and the Coast Guard.
The bales of confiscated cocaine were placed on pallets and were stacked at Broadway Pier in San Diego ready to be released to the DEA. Federal authorities believe that the drug smugglers from Latin America have begun a serious effort to move drugs into the country by boats as land security at the US-Mexico border has been tightened up of late. Because of this, the US has stepped up it sea presence along the suspected sea routes. Also, because the various cartels have been battling for control of these particular sea lanes and routes, violence and instability had increased in Central and South America and the murder rate in many of those countries has become astronomical.
PHOTO SOURCES: San Diego Union Tribune, CNN