iStock(FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.) — The U.S. Coast Guard has seized millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine and marijuana at a Florida port.
“The Coast Guard Cutter James (WMSL-754) crew is scheduled to offload approximately 28,000 pounds of seized cocaine worth an estimated $367 million and approximately 11,000 pounds of seized marijuana worth an estimated $10.1 million at Port Everglades,” according to a press release from the U.S. Coast Guard.
The U.S. Coast Guard shared a video on Twitter of the 28,000 pounds of cocaine that was intercepted.
“What you see is 19 tons of narcotics seized from 18 separate Coast Guard interdiction events, with a street value worth more than $375 million,” Capt. Jeffrey Randall, Coast Guard Cutter James commanding officer said in a statement. “These drugs will not reach Main Street USA due to the efforts of the James crew and other Coast Guard cutters involved in these interdictions,”
Capt. Randall added that the crew worked in cooperation with “regional partner nations, like Columbia, Costa Rica and alongside the agencies involved in Operation Martillo to stop the flow of illegal narcotics into the United States.”
As a result, Randall said, “we maintain an offensive against criminal networks and criminal organizations.”
The contraband was interdicted in 18 separate operations of suspected drug smuggling vessels in international waters of the Caribbean Basin and Eastern Pacific Ocean off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America, officials said.
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