At Port Everglades Thursday morning, the U.S. Coast Guard offloaded more than $517.5 million in illicit narcotics. According to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Stone seized nearly 46,000 pounds of cocaine and 50 pounds of marijuana.
The seized narcotics was a conclusion of 14 interdictions with crews including Coast Guard Cutter Stone, Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk, Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON), Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team-Pacific (PAC-TCLET), Joint Interagency Task Force-South (JIATFS), and Eleventh Coast Guard District.
Thirty-five smuggling suspects were taken into custody to face federal prosecution in U.S. courts.
Noem praised the Coast Guard saying, “The brave men and women of the Coast Guard do work every single day, 24/7, and they do it with excellence. Their dedication, their resilience and their patriotism is something that we all can admire and it does not go unnoticed.”
“That means that fewer lives are going to be lost to overdoses, that communities will be safer and fewer resources will be at the hands of dangerous violent cartels that seek to do all us harm,” Noem added.
By - FZ
Comments