HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – U.S. Coast Guard crews worked Tuesday to unload some $96 million in interdicted drugs at a South Florida port as a trio of suspected smugglers await trial in federal court.
The crew of the 270-foot Coast Guard Cutter Forward offloaded more than 7,300 pounds of cocaine at Port Everglades in Hollywood, sharing pictures and video of the operation as bales of illegal narcotics were handed from person to person after being caught in transit during three separate cases in the Caribbean Sea, according to a news release.
“This was another vital success of our combined drug interdiction efforts,” Lt. Cmdr. Juan Ramirez, a Coast Guard District Seven staff attorney, said in a statement. “These drug offloads underscore our continued partnerships with the U.S. Navy and the Royal Netherlands Navy in combating the flow of illicit narcotics across the Caribbean. The success of our joint efforts to save lives by reducing the availability of these harmful drugs is dependent on our cooperation with regional and international partners.”
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PAC-TACLET and HITRON — the Pacific Area Tactical Law Enforcement Team and Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, respectively — are specialized forces deployable by the Coast Guard which employ advanced training in high-risk interdiction operations in the maritime environment, according to the release. These forces will deploy aboard Coast Guard, U.S. Navy and foreign allied ships alike to perform counter-drug missions under U.S. law, the release states.
The interdictions that led to Tuesday’s offloading relate to investigation led by Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces, or OCDETF, according to the Coast Guard. Further detail regarding the three people facing charges in the interdictions was not immediately available.
The following interagency and international partners were credited by the Coast Guard for help in seizing the drugs:
- Royal Netherlands Navy ship HNLMS Groningen (P 843)
- USS St. Louis (LCS-19)
- U.S. Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team Pacific (PAC-TACLET) Law Enforcement Detachments 110 and 105
- U.S. Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON)
- Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-South)
- U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations (CBP-AMO)
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