NEW YORK: The U.S. Coast Guard has just seized more than $40 million worth of drugs, consisting of 1,100 kilograms of cocaine and 4,420 pounds of marijuana.
The seized substances, which were taken in the Caribbean Sea, were offloaded in Miami on Tuesday.
The large confiscation seems to be typical, as a tweet from the U.S. Coast Guard states that in 2015, the agency has seized 150 metric tons of cocaine, worth about $5 billion.
The drug seizure was part of Operation Martillo, a joint multinational effort led by the United States aimed at eliminating drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea, the eastern Pacific Ocean and the coastal areas of the Central American nations. The word “Martillo” is Spanish for hammer.
When Operation Martillo was launched in 2012, it was intended as an innovative strategy that would allow the U.S. to catch maritime drug trafficking in ways that had previously been impossible. As reported in the Miami Herald, Marine Gen. John Kelly described the difficulties facing the Coast Guard in 2014, saying, “Because of asset shortfalls, we’re unable to get after 74 percent of suspected maritime drug smuggling.”
The Coast Guard has recently been getting some help in the “war on drugs” from some top notch naval technology as well.
In May, the Norfolk-based guided-missile frigate USS Kauffman teamed up with Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment and was able to recover approximately 630 kilograms of cocaine in international waters of the Eastern Pacific. The estimated value of the illegal substances was around $23 million.
The commanding officer of the USS Kauffman, Cmdr. Michael Concannon, said that “seizure would not have been possible without a successful international and interagency effort to provide support to tactical assets, like ourselves and other coalition and interagency assets, positioned to intercept drug traffickers moving their illicit contraband in the Eastern Pacific.”
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