Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless returns home after seizing approximately $27 million of cocaine

News Release

U.S. Coast Guard 8th District Heartland Contact: 8th District Public Affairs Office: (504) 671-2020 After Hours: (618) 225-9008 Eighth District online newsroom

Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless returns home after seizing approximately $27 million of cocaine

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PENSACOLA, FL.― Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless is scheduled to return home to Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida, Saturday following a 54-day patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

The 76-person crew interdicted two vessels with an estimated combined total of over 2,000 pounds of cocaine, which is worth more than approximately $27.2 million dollars.

The crew departed Pensacola in September for a patrol in support of Operation Martillo. The operation sends Department of Defense and U.S. Coast Guard crews to work with partner nations to curtail the flow of drugs coming to the U.S. from Central and South America.

The crew of Dauntless assisted with dismantling transnational criminal organizations as part of the Department of Homeland Security's Southern Border Campaign Plan and the U.S. Coast Guard's Western Hemisphere Strategy.

The cutter patrolled over 7,000 nautical miles and transited the Panama Canal.

"Dauntless, once again, demonstrated the value of the U.S. Coast Guard to the nation as a military service, law enforcement agency and member of the intelligence community in securing our borders and protecting our national security interests," said Cmdr. Timothy Sommella, the commanding officer of Coast Guard Cutter Dauntless. "The interdictions and apprehensions were the result of months of preparation and hours upon hours of training and maintenance followed by precise mission execution at a moment's notice. The crew did a phenomenal job keeping the 50-year old ship at the highest state of readiness while overcoming enormous logistic and engineering challenges, including at-sea repairs to critical equipment to keep us in the fight."

Operation Martillo is Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S) led multi-national detection, monitoring and interdiction operation conducted by U.S. Navy, Coast Guard, and Customs and Border Protection vessels and aircraft working in cooperation with military and law enforcement agencies from various Central and South American nations, Canada, the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

For more information please contact Ens. Christopher Sanchez at Christopher.B.Sanchez@uscg.mil or by calling the cutter at (409) 291-4596.

 

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