The US Coast Guard have seized $350 million worth of cocaine in a series of operations in the Pacific Ocean, captured in a dramatic video showing suspected drug smugglers frantically tossing their cargo from a speeding boat.
The Coast Guard released images late Friday of the high-speed chase by one of its cutters, one of six recent interdictions in international waters of the Pacific Ocean, off the Mexican and Latin American coasts.
Cocaine profits are used to fund opioid trafficking. @uscg members seized $350M of cocaine, which prevents cartels from financing the opioid epidemic, killing Americans, & destabilizing our Border. We combat cartels where they are most vulnerable - at sea. https://t.co/PL0CiXPIlz pic.twitter.com/6BLsZr0TOK
— Admiral Karl Schultz (@ComdtUSCG) July 26, 2019
In all, 13 tons of cocaine -- said to be valued at $350 million -- were seized, either from smugglers' go-fast boats or found floating in the ocean after being heaved overboard, according to the statement.
The Coast Guard did not specify how many arrests were made in the latest actions, but said that so far this fiscal year it has detained more than 400 suspected smugglers in the Eastern Pacific while seizing more than 230,000 pounds of cocaine.
In one of the more dramatic recent interdictions, a video showed members of a Coast Guard team leaping onto the deck of a speeding semi-submersible craft and pounding on its hatch until the occupants opened it to surrender.
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