The U.S. Coast Guard made a record drug haul this summer, seizing more than 76,000 pounds of illegal narcotics.
The Coast Guard made the historic offload of 76,140 pounds of illicit drugs, valued at $473 million, on Monday in Port Everglades, Fla., according to the military branch. Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton offloaded about 61,740 pounds of cocaine and 14,400 pounds of marijuana.
“Team Hamilton with our partners, worked incredibly hard the last several months to safeguard the American public from the dangers of illicit narcotics entering the United States,” commanding officer of the Hamilton, Capt. John B. McWhite, said.
The contraband was seized through 19 interdiction operations in the international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea from June 28 to Aug. 18, according to the Coast Guard.
“The U.S. Coast Guard in partnership with our federal, DoD, and international partners are offloading 61,740 pounds of cocaine, and this represents a significant victory in the fight against transnational criminal organizations, highlighting our unwavering commitment to safeguarding the nation from illicit trafficking and its devastating impacts,” Coast Guard Southeast District Commander Rear Adm. Adam Chamie said.
“To put this into perspective, the potential 23 million lethal doses of cocaine seized by the U.S. Coast Guard and our partners, are enough to fatally overdose the entire population of the state of Florida, underscoring the immense threat posed by transnational drug trafficking to our nation,” Chamie went on.
