HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – The U.S. Coast Guard on Wednesday offloaded more than 49,000 pounds of cocaine at Port Everglades.
The seizure of some $362 million in illicit drugs was largely the result of 15 interdictions by the crews of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stone — a 418-foot national security cutter homeported in Charleston, South Carolina — and some Pacific operations, a news release states.
A news conference held at Port Everglades on Wednesday featured Tulsi Gabbard, director of National Intelligence; DEA Administrator Terry Cole; Capt. Anne O’Connell, commanding officer of Coast Guard Cutter Stone; Vice Adm. Nathan Moore, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area; Rear Adm. Jeffrey Randall, director of Joint Interagency Task Force South; and U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida Gregory Kehoe.
“What you see behind me is more than just a pile of cocaine. It represents a tangible victory in our ongoing fight against transnational criminal organizations and narco terrorism. The Coast Guard Cutter Stone, under the exceptional leadership of Capt. O’Connell, just completed a historic deployment. This patrol resulted in the seizure of 60,000 pounds of cocaine, which is the largest amount ever seized by a Coast Guard cutter in a single patrol,” Moore said. “Since August, these men and women — what you see here on the flight deck, those down below, thousands of miles away from their home and their families — they put themselves in harm’s way to combat the threats that face the United States. An example of their dedication is marked by a point of deployment when the crew enabled three interdictions in a single night, seizing more than 12,000 pounds of cocaine and apprehending seven suspected traffickers.”