$1 Billion Of Cocaine Was Recently Intercepted By The The U.S. Coast Guard

Winter might be coming to a close, but it was still snowing in Miami recently, as 16 tons of cocaine with an estimated street value of $1 billion (£800m) was offloaded at Port Everglades over a 26-day-period.

The coke was intercepted in international waters off the Eastern Pacific Ocean, with the drugs interdicted along Central and South America by Coast Guard and Canadian ships.

The offload represents 17 separate suspected drug smuggling vessel interdictions by U.S. Coast Guard crews and Canadian crews.

Credit: U.S. Coast Guard

Numerous U.S. agencies from the Departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security were involved in the effort to combat transnational organized crime

"I am extremely proud of the crew of Coast Guard Cutter James and our embarked HITRON aviation detachment for a highly successful inaugural patrol," said Vice Adm. Karl Schultz, commander of Coast Guard Atlantic Area.

"Our persistent maritime presence in drug trafficking zones from cutters like James, enables us to interdict bulk quantities of drugs at sea, preventing criminal networks' illicit cargoes from reaching the shores of Central America, and land routes into the United States."

Sure thing Karl, I can't help but think that must have been one hell of a trip back to shore.

Credit: U.S. Coast Guard

Earlier in the year, a massive amount of cocaine, worth around £50 million, washed up on beaches a little closer to home.

The holdalls and bags full of cocaine, weighing 360kg (793lbs), were washed up on Hopton beach in Norfolk.

Matthew Rivers, from the NCA's border investigation team, told the BBC at the time: "We are now working with Border Force, the Coastguard Agency and Norfolk Police to try and establish how the bags ended up where they did, however it is extremely unlikely that this was their intended destination.

Credit: NCA

"This is obviously a substantial seizure of class A drugs and its loss will represent a major blow to the organised criminals involved."

The discovery was made after a member of the public spotted holdalls washed up on the beach and contacted police.

The amount of cocaine estimated to be imported annually into the UK is between 25-30 tonnes.

Featured Image Credit: U.S. Coast Guard

Topics: Cocaine

James Dawson

James Dawson is a Journalist at LADbible. He has contributed articles to LADbible’s ‘Knowing Me, Knowing EU’ series on the EU referendum, the 'Electoral Dysfunction' series on the 2017 general election, the ‘U OK M8?’ series tackling mental health amongst young men, and for its ‘Climate Change’ initiative in partnership with National Geographic.

@thejaytoday