Coast Guard offloads nearly 46,000 pounds of illegal drugs valued over $500 million at Port Everglades
By CBS Miami Team
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PORT EVERGLADES, Florida (WFOR) — The U.S. Coast Guard offloaded nearly 46,000 pounds of seized illegal drugs Thursday morning at Port Everglades.
The drugs, worth more than $517.5 million, were seized in 14 interdictions in the eastern Pacific Ocean by the crews of U.S. Coast Guard cutters Stone and Mohawk. The cutters had embedded helicopter interdiction tactical squadron aircrews and a Tactical Law Enforcement Team-Pacific law enforcement detachment.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the interdictions and seizures were another milestone in President Donald Trump’s mission to protect our borders, our communities and to stop the flow of illicit drugs and trafficking into the U.S.
“Today is a historic day. Here at Port Everglades, over 22.5 tons, or 45,000 pounds, of cocaine and 50 pounds of marijuana, valued at over half a billion dollars, are going to be offloaded and taken out of circulation. This is an unprecedented seizure of illicit drugs that is the result of 14 different interdictions of drug smuggling vessels,” said Noem.
Noem praised the Coast Crews who took part in the operation and thanked the partner agencies.
“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,” she said.
The director said thanks to the Coast Guard relentless maritime security and interdictions, our communities are safer.
“That means that fewer families are going to be torn apart by addiction. 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,” she said.
This was not the first time this year the Coast Guard offloaded seized drugs in South Florida.
On March 6, more than 12,000 pounds of cocaine valied at more then $141 million were brought to the Coast Guard Station in Miami Beach. The USCG said they confiscated the drugs in open waters over the last two months by using planes, thermal imaging and speed boats. More than a dozen suspected smugglers were detained in the six interdicitons.
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