MEDIA AVAILABILITY: Senior Coast Guard, Navy, partner agency leaders to discuss recent drug interdiction and offload operations in San Diego

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

Senior Coast Guard, Navy, partner agency leaders to discuss recent drug interdiction and offload operations in San Diego

WHO: Rear Adm. Brian Penoyer, the 11thCoast Guard District commander, Cmdr. Rion W. Martin, the USS Gabrielle Giffords’ commanding officer, Brandon Tucker, Customs and Border Protection’s Deputy Director of Air Operations for the San Diego Air and Marine Branch, Misha Piastro III, Drug Enforcement Agency’s Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the San Diego Field Division, Robert S. Brewer, Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California along with other Coast Guard members

WHAT: Senior leaders from the Coast Guard, Navy and partner agencies are scheduled to be available to discuss  recent Eastern Pacific Ocean counter-drug operations aboard the USS Gabrielle Giffords and subsequent San Diego drug offload

WHEN: Monday at 2 p.m.

WHERE: Coast Guard Sector San Diego at 2710 N. Harbor Drive, San Diego, CA 92101

Editor's Note: Media interested in attending should RSVP with PA3 Alex Gray at (619) 252-1304 and plan to arrive at Coast Guard Sector San Diego at 1:30 p.m. to get through security and gain access to the base. Media are required to wear masks at all times while on base and have a government-issued photo ID, press credentials, proof of vehicle registration and insurance. Media will be escorted to the event location following the security screening. The drugs are scheduled to be offloaded at a Navy base, and due to COVID-19, media are not able to access the Navy base. Therefore, senior officials are being invited to Coast Guard Sector San Diego, where they will be available to discuss operations and available for interviews after remarks. B-roll of the offload will be provided to the media.

SAN DIEGO – Senior Coast Guard, Navy and partner agency leaders are scheduled to be available at Coast Guard Sector San Diego Monday afternoon to highlight their success during an Eastern Pacific Ocean counter-drug deployment that resulted in the seizure and offload of more than $211 million worth of cocaine and marijuana.

The offloaded drugs consist of 11,400 pounds of cocaine and 9,000 pounds of marijuana from five interdictions from the USS Gabrielle Giffords and three from Coast Guard ships also operating in the Eastern Pacific Ocean. 

On April 1, U.S. Southern Command increased counter-narcotics operations in the Western Hemisphere to disrupt the flow of drugs. Numerous U.S. agencies from the Departments of Defense, Justice, and Homeland Security cooperated 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 drug cartels in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea requires unity of effort in all phases from detection, monitoring and interdictions, to criminal prosecutions for these interdictions by United States Attorney’s Offices from the Middle District of Florida and the Southern District of Florida and the Southern District of California. The law enforcement phase of counter-smuggling operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean is conducted under the authority of the 11th Coast Guard District, headquartered in Alameda. The interdictions, including the actual boardings, are led and conducted by members of the U.S. Coast Guard.

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