The U.S. Coast Guard tweeted on Election Day morning that its officers planned to offload more than 30,000 pounds of recently uncovered drugs.
The initial message from the Coast Guard only announced that its cutter named James would offload “more than 30,000 pounds in the #PortEverglades.” The mystery on what was offloaded originally had folks guessing that the contents were things such as grouper or feathers.
The Coast Guard later confirmed that more than 23,000 pounds of cocaine and 6,900 pounds of marijuana were seized, according to a news release. The drugs were estimated to be valued at about $408 million.
“Under the leadership of U.S. Southern Command and Joint Interagency Task Force South, Coast Guard and Navy forces worked side by side to stop the flow of illegal narcotics on the high seas before it could make landfall in Central America and continue its northward journey into the United States,” Capt. Jeffrey Randall, commanding officer of the Cutter James, said in the bulletin. “Working along side our partner agencies, we continue to take the fight to the drug cartels and make an impact on these criminal organizations who spread this poison on our streets. I couldn’t be more proud of my crew and their hard work.”
Several cutters at various ports made the seizure possible. Two cutters in Florida, Cutter Mohawk, ported in Key West, was responsible for one seizure of about 1,700 pounds of cocaine. The Cutter Confidence, ported in Port Canaveral, handled another seizure of about 1,089 pounds of cocaine. The Cutter James, ported in Charleston, South Carolina, was the site of four seizures of about 8,400 pounds of cocaine and 3,350 pounds of marijuana. The Cutter Escanaba, ported in Boston, took on one seizure of about 2,200 pounds of cocaine. By ship, The USS Lassen, ported at the Naval station in Mayport, Florida, was behind two seizures of about 575 pounds of cocaine and 3,575 pounds of marijuana. Lastly, the USS Pinckney, ported at the Naval base in San Diego, handled two seizures of about 9,050 pounds of cocaine.
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