U.S. Coast Guard Offloads Six Tonnes of Cocaine in Miami

 

On Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Valiant offloaded nearly six tonnes of cocaine onto a pier at Coast Guard Base Miami Beach, just three miles from the city's famous nightclub district - but the drugs are not for distribution. The giant $140 million haul will be destroyed, adding to the long list of multi-tonne busts that the Coast Guard completes every year. 

The seizures resulted from six interdictions in the Caribbean last month, carried out by Coast Guard units with assistance from Dutch and Canadian partners. The first and biggest occurred February 2 off the coast of Venezuela, when a Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard aircrew spotted a smuggling boat and vectored in the Netherlands Royal Navy patrol ship HNLMS Groningen to intercept. The Groningen's embarked U.S. Coast Guard boarding team chased down the boat and captured 6,200 pounds of cocaine, plus five smugglers. 12 days later, Groningen hunted down another suspicious vessel off Venezuela and recovered about 570 pounds of cocaine from the water (though the suspects got away). On March 4, Groningen seized another 550 pounds and caught two smugglers northwest of Aruba, after firing warning shots to compel the suspects to stop.  

The Royal Canadian Navy's HMCS Harry DeWolf contributed 1,650 pounds from a seizure north of Cabo De La Vela, Colombia, drawing on the skills of an embarked U.S. Coast Guard boarding team. USCGC Joseph Doyle seized another 2,200 pounds from a go-fast boat off the U.S. Virgin Islands on February 2, and USCGC Valiant captured a go-fast with 1,300 pounds off the Dominican Republic on February 17. 

A USCGC Valiant small boat crew interdicts a go-fast vessel about 50 miles northeast of the Dominican Republic, Feb. 17 (USCG)

"I am proud of the dedication and professionalism demonstrated by the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Doyle in securing our maritime border," said Lt. Cmdr. David Radin, commanding officer of Joseph Doyle. "It was a smooth operation working with Air Station Miami's forward-deployed aircraft to detect these traffickers."

A total of 17 smugglers were captured and were transferred ashore for prosecution in Miami.