MIAMI -- The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Campbell offloaded nearly 14,000 pounds of cocaine, worth about $206 million, on Friday in Port Everglades.
The drugs were seized in international waters from seven cases of suspected smuggling vessels off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America by Campbell and the cutter Active between April and late May.
The cutter Campbell seized six cases, about 5,435 kilograms, and the cutter Active seized about 827 kilograms.
A release said the Coast Guard increased presence in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Basin as part of its Western Hemisphere Strategy. The actual boarding of vessels and seizure of drugs are led and conducted by members of the Coast Guard.
Cutter Campbell commanding officer Mark McDonnell said he’s “incredibly proud of the hard work of Campbell’s law enforcement teams, my entire crew, and their shipmates aboard the cutter Active that made these impressive interdictions over the past few months possible.”
“The persistent presence of Coast Guard and partner agencies, along with our foreign nation counter-drug partners, in the highly-trafficked Eastern Pacific drug transit zone is essential to dismantling the crime networks that threaten the U.S. with their illicit activities,” McDonnell said.
