The U.S. Coast Guard handed over 14 tons of cocaine, at least half of which was seized from marine drug smugglers in the eastern Pacific Ocean, to the the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Thursday.
The crew of USCG's Bertholf used cranes to haul the drugs, stacked on pallets, off the cutter docked at the Port of San Diego Broadway Pier on Harbor Drive around 8 a.m. before the DEA took the narcotics into custody.
HAPPENING NOW @uscoastguard unloads more than 158 thousand pounds of cocaine seized over the past 3 mths #NBC7 pic.twitter.com/yHl4Hb8UPH
— Liberty Zabala (@LibertyNBC7SD) April 7, 2016
The Coast Guard reports that the 28,000-pound cocaine haul came from seizures of Central and South America in the eastern Pacific Ocean. With an estimated street value of at least $400 million, the haul was the result of 14 marine operations between late January and early March from cutters Bertholf and Valiant, as well as the USS Lassen, resulting in the arrests of dozens of smugglers.
Notably, more than 12,000 pounds of cocaine - amounting to nearly half the haul - was pulled from a "self-propelled semi-submersible" on March 3, with another 1,500 pounds found floating in open waters.
"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," said Rear Admiral Joseph Servidio, commander of the 11th Coast Guard District.
Early 2016 has been a major year for drug busts. In a similar development, federal agents discovered a cross-border tunnel in late March, complete with a lighting and rail system that smugglers had been using to ferry drugs between Mexico and California. What separates this operation from others in the past is that smugglers had gone as far as to purchase a plot of land and build an entire house to hide their activities.
In the meantime, the Coast Guard says that the Eastern Pacific is a prime location for drug activity, and that activity has been on the rise as of late. The Coast Guard, with the help of cutters, U.S. Navy ships and International partner ships, reported seizing more than 158,000 pounds of cocaine in that drug traffic zone last year - more than 2012, 2013 and 2014 combined.
