Over 24 tons of cocaine worth more than $362 million from a record-setting seizure by the U.S. Coast Guard was offloaded at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday.
The cocaine, weighing over 49,000 pounds, was seized during 15 separate interdictions by the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stone during operations in the eastern Pacific.
Officials said it’s the largest cocaine seizure by a single cutter in one patrol in the Coast Guard’s history.
The cocaine came from countries like Colombia and Ecuador, and could have come to South Florida, officials said.
“We know for certain that these drugs come everywhere, including Florida. Even drugs interdicted in the Eastern Pacific are coming up from South and Central America into the United States, in the entire United States and distributed,” said Coast Guard Vice Admiral Nathan Moore.
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard attending Wednesday’s news conference at the port and lauded the cutter’s efforts.
“The success that we are seeing here today is what happens when we have a commander-in-chief who empower leaders, Coast Guard men and women, our service members across the force, our intelligence analysts and professionals to do the job that they signed up to do,” she said.
Officials said suspected drug smugglers were detained during the operation and no Coast Guard members were harmed.