MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Drug busts by crews of old, new Coast Guard cutters yield 13 tons of cocaine -- offload planned in San Diego

U.S. Coast Guard sent this bulletin at 07/26/2019 06:00 AM EDT

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News Release  

U.S. Coast Guard 11th District PA Detachment San Diego
Contact: Coast Guard PA Detachment San Diego
Office: (619) 278-7025
After Hours: (619) 252-1304
PA Detachment San Diego online newsroom

Drug busts by crews of old, new Coast Guard cutters yield 13 tons of cocaine -- offload planned in San Diego

Drug bust
Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast crew members uncover a compartment concealing multiple bales of cocaine beneath the floorboard of a panga interdicted June 30, 2019, while patrolling international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. During at-sea interdictions in international waters, a suspect vessel is initially detected and monitored by allied, military or law enforcement personnel coordinated by Joint Interagency Task Force-South based in Key West, Florida, and the interdictions including the boardings are led and conducted by members of the U.S. Coast Guard. U.S. Coast Guard photo Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast crewmembers aboard the cutter’s 26-foot Mark IV interceptor boat come alongside a fishing vessel suspected of smuggling cocaine during Steadfast’s counter-drug patrol in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, July 10, 2019. The interdiction and boarding of the fishing vessel yielded more than 9,000 pounds of cocaine, the largest amount of cocaine the Coast Guard has seized from a single fishing vessel in approximately 10 years. U.S. Coast Guard photo Bales of contraband lie stacked on the Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast’s flight deck, July, 18, 2019. The bales of contraband were the results of two separate drug-smuggling interdictions made by Steadfast and Coast Guard Cutter Robert Ward crewmembers who were patrolling international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean during counter-drug deployments to the region. U.S. Coast Guard photo
A Coast Guard Cutter Robert Ward crew member inspects and prepares to test suspected contraband seized from a suspected drug smuggling boat in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, July 16, 2019. Commissioned March 2, 2019, Robert Ward’s interdiction marks the first drug interdiction in the Eastern Pacific Ocean by a Fast Response Cutter. U.S. Coast Guard photo. Bales of cocaine lie within compartments aboard a sail boat interdicted by Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast crew members during the cutter’s counter-drug patrol in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, June 3, 2019. The Coast Guard increased 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. U.S. Coast Guard photo Coast Guard Cutter Robert Ward crewmembers aboard the cutter’s 26-foot Mark IV interceptor boat approach a suspected drug smuggling boat interdicted by the crew in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean, July 16, 2019. Robert Ward’s crew seized more than 3,000 pounds of cocaine from the suspected smugglers during the at-sea interdiction marking the first seizure of cocaine by a Coast Guard Fast Response Cutter in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. U.S. Coast Guard photo

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WHO: Rear Adm. Peter Gautier, the 11th Coast Guard District commander, Jeremy Battenfield, the director of Customs and Border Protection's National Air Security Operations, Cmdr. Daniel Ursino, the Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast commanding officer and Steadfast crew.

WHAT: The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast is scheduled to offload more than 26,000 pounds of cocaine seized from suspected drug smugglers in drug transit zones of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

WHEN: Friday at noon

WHERE: B-Street Terminal South, 1140 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101

Editor’s Note: Media attending this event must RSVP with Coast Guard Public Affairs Detachment San Diego personnel at (619)252-1304 by 9 a.m. Friday. All media must have government-issued identification and media credentials to gain access. Entry to the terminal will be allowed to escorted media on the day of the event from 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. — The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast (WMEC-632) is scheduled to offload more than 26,000 pounds of seized cocaine in San Diego Friday.

The cocaine, worth an estimated $350 million, was seized in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. The contraband represents six suspected drug smuggling vessel interdictions and the recovery of floating cocaine bales by the crews of two Coast Guard cutters off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America between late June and mid-July.

Six of the interdictions were carried out by the Steadfast’s crew, one of the Coast Guard’s oldest cutters commissioned in 1968. One interdiction was by the crew of one of the service’s newest ships, the Coast Guard Cutter Robert Ward (WPC-1130) commissioned in March, and is not only the cutter’s first drug bust, but the first drug bust by a Coast Guard Sentinel-class fast response cutter in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

The offload from the Steadfast follows the July 11 offload of more than 39,000 pounds of seized cocaine from the Coast Guard Cutter Munro (WMSL-775) in San Diego representing 14 interdictions in the same region. So far in fiscal year 2019, the Coast Guard has made more than 100 interdictions, seized more than 230,000 pounds of cocaine and detained more than 400 suspected smugglers in the drug transit zones of the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

The fight against drug cartels in the Eastern Pacific Ocean requires unity of effort in all phases from detection, monitoring and interdictions, to criminal prosecutions by U.S. Attorneys in districts across the nation.

The Coast Guard increased 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, a suspect vessel is initially detected and monitored by allied, military or law enforcement personnel coordinated by Joint Interagency Task Force-South based in Key West, Florida. The law enforcement phase of counter-smuggling operations in the Eastern Pacific is conducted under the authority of the 11th Coast Guard District, headquartered in Alameda.

The Steadfast is a 210-foot Reliance-class medium-endurance cutter homeported in Astoria, Oregon.

The Robert Ward is a 154-foot Sentinel-class fast response cutter homeported in San Pedro.

The Robert Ward is one of four recently commissioned fast response cutters (FRCs) assigned to the 11th Coast Guard District to bolster Coast Guard safety and security operations in the Pacific Southwest region.

-USCG-