Coast Guard to unload 24,886 pounds of cocaine and 2,664 pounds of marijuana in Port Everglades

Coast Guard to unload 24,886 pounds of cocaine, 2,664 pounds of marijuana in Port

Everglades

 

Editor’s Note: Media interested in attending must RSVP with the Coast Guard 7th District Public Affairs duty officer at 786-367-7649. Only credentialed media will be granted access to the event. Media must arrive no later than 12:30 p.m. Click on images to download high resolution versions.

Security: Be prepared to show government-issued photo identification, such as a driver's license or passport, and media credentials at the security checkpoint.

WHO: Commanding officer, and the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Legare

WHAT: Offload of approximately 12 tons of cocaine and 1 ton of marijuana

WHEN: 1 p.m. Tuesday, April 24, 2018

WHERE: Pier 4, Port Everglades - 1800 SE 20th St, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33316. The seaport can be accessed by:

1. Main entrance. Take I-595 East straight into the port (I-595 become Eller Drive once inside the Port). I-595 runs east/west with connections to the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International

Airport, U.S.1, I-95, State Road 7 (441), Florida's Turnpike, Sawgrass Expressway and I-75.

2. North entrance. Take U.S.1 or A1A to 17th Street Causeway in Fort Lauderdale and turn south at the streetlight onto Eisenhower Blvd.
3. US1/Federal Highway entrance. At the intersection of State Road 84 East and U.S.1 (Federal

Hwy.), turn east into the seaport.

MIAMI — The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Legare is scheduled to offload approximately 12 tons of cocaine and 1 ton of marijuana Tuesday in Port Everglades worth an estimated $390 million total wholesale seized in international waters in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

The drugs were interdicted off the coasts of Mexico, Central, and South America by multiple U.S. Coast Guard cutters and Canadian Naval vessels.

The offload represents 17 separate suspected drug smuggling vessel interdictions by:

• The Coast Guard Cutter Reliance was responsible for one case, seizing an estimated 1,200

kilograms of marijuana.

• The Coast Guard Cutter Legare was responsible for five cases, seizing an estimated 2,051

kilograms of cocaine and 8 kilograms of marijuana.

• The Coast Guard Cutter Harriet Lane was responsible for one case, seizing an estimated 907

kilograms of cocaine.

• The Coast Guard Cutter Decisive was responsible for two cases, seizing an estimated 430

kilograms of cocaine.

• The Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast was responsible for four cases seizing an estimated 1730

kilograms of cocaine.

• HMCS Whitehorse was responsible for two cases, seizing an estimated 1,540

  kilograms of cocaine.

• HMCS Edmonton was responsible for one case, seizing an estimated 451

  kilograms of cocaine.

kilograms of cocaine.

• The Coast Guard Cutter Dependable was responsible for one case seizing an estimated 454

kilograms of cocaine.

Numerous U.S. agencies from the Departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security are involved in the effort to combat transnational organized crime. The Coast Guard, Navy, Customs and Border Protection, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement along with allied and international partner agencies play a role in counter-drug operations. The fight against transnational organized crime networks in the Eastern Pacific requires unity of effort in all phases from detection, monitoring, and interdictions to prosecutions by several U.S. Attorneys’ offices around the nation and authorities in partner nations.

“What these numbers represent is an increased commitment by U.S. and international partners to combat transnational criminal networks and promote stability in the Central American region, along the U.S. southern border, and in the southern maritime approaches to the U.S.,” said Cmdr. Jonathan Carter, commanding officer of Legare. “Today’s offload sends them a message that our network of partners and allies remains resolute in our commitment to stem the flow of illicit trafficking that breeds instability."

The Coast Guard increased the U.S. and allied presence in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Basin, which are known drug transit zones off of Central and South America, as part of its Western Hemisphere Strategy. During at-sea interdictions in international waters, a suspect vessel is initially located and tracked by allied, military or law enforcement personnel. The interdictions, including the actual boarding, are led and conducted by U.S. Coast Guardsmen. The law enforcement phase of counter-smuggling operations in the Eastern Pacific is conducted under the authority of the Coast Guard 11th District headquartered in Alameda, California.

The cutter Legare is a 270-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Portsmouth, Virginia.

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-USCG-