Two U.S. Coast Guard cutters offloaded more than $330 million worth of illegal narcotics seized from smugglers in the Eastern Pacific.
The drugs were displayed at Port Everglades, in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida where Coast Guard crews offloaded 7,200 pounds of cocaine the USCGC Campbell and 11,800 pounds of cocaine and marijuana from the USCGC Harriet Lane, worth more than $123 million and $206 million, respectively.
The drugs are the result of 14 interdictions that occurred in the Eastern Pacific Ocean involving seven Coast Guard and two US Navy assets.
The U.S. Southern Command increased counter-narcotics operations in the Western Hemisphere to disrupt the flow of drugs last April. The fight against drug cartels in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea involves numerous U.S. agencies from the Departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security, along with allied and international partner agencies.
The medium endurance cutter USCGC Campbell is homeported in Kittery, Maine. The medium endurance cutter USCGC Harriet Lane is homeported in Portsmouth, Virginia.