A recent theft near Miami Beach resulted in the U.S. Coast Guard offloading thousands of pounds of cocaine Friday morning.
3,100 pounds of marijuana and over 720 pounds of cocaine were reportedly offloaded at the Coast Guard installation in South Florida, according to officials.
An approximate value of $13.7 million has been placed on the medications. The Coast Guard made two separate seizures of the drugs off the coasts of Panama and Colombia.
According to officials, on May 22, crew members pursued an allegedly suspicious vessel northwest of Colombia. Crew members found 14 bales of cocaine on the yacht when it beached itself on St. Lucia Island.
Helicopter personnel saw goods being thrown overboard on May 27, prompting the evacuation of crew members to another suspicious vessel. 62 marijuana bundles were found by officials.
According to officials, four citizens of Costa Rica were placed under arrest.
“These individual seizures not only keep drugs off the streets and reduce the destabilizing effects they have on society, but they get our investigatory agencies one step closer to disabling the transnational criminal organizations that threaten the prosperity and security of free nations,” said Coast Guard’s 7th District deputy chief of enforcement Cmdr. Tim Cronin.
During the operation, the Coast Guard crew aboard the cutter will spend two months at sea before returning home.
