MEDIA AVAILABILITY: 55-year old Coast Guard Cutter offloads $220 million in illicit drugs in San Diego

News Release

U.S. Coast Guard 11th District Pacific Southwest Contact: 11th District Public Affairs Office: (510) 437-3325 After Hours: (510) 772-8865 11th District online newsroom

MEDIA AVAILABILITY: 55-year old Coast Guard Cutter offloads $220 million in illicit drugs in San Diego

Editor's Note: Click on images above to download full-resolution version.

WHO: Rear Adm. Brian Penoyer, the Eleventh Coast Guard District commander; Cmdr. James M. O’Mara IV, the Coast Guard Cutter Active commanding officer; Brandon Tucker, Customs and Border Protection Deputy Director of Air Operations for the San Diego Air and Marine Branch; Misha Piastro III, Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge - San Diego Field Division; Randy Grossman, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California along with other Coast Guard members

WHAT: Senior leaders from the Coast Guard are scheduled to be available to discuss Coast Guard Cutter Active’s recent Eastern Pacific Ocean counter-drug deployment from March through May and subsequent San Diego drug offload

WHEN: Wednesday at 10 a.m.

WHERE: Broadway Pier, 1000, The Embarcadero, San Diego, CA 92101

Editor's Note: Media interested in attending should RSVP with Petty Officer Alex Gray at (619) 252-1304 and plan to arrive at Broadway Pier at 9:30 a.m. to get through security. Media are required to wear masks at all times and have a government-issued photo ID and press credentials. Media will be escorted to the event location following the security screening.

SAN DIEGO – The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Active (WMEC 618) will offload approximately 11,500 pounds of seized cocaine in San Diego, Wednesday.

The drugs, worth an estimated $220 million, were seized in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean during April and May. They represent four suspected drug smuggling vessel interdictions off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America by the following Coast Guard ships:

• The Coast Guard Cutter ACTIVE (WMEC 618) crew was responsible for two interdictions seizing approximately 5,600 pounds of cocaine.
• The Coast Guard Cutter STEADFAST (WMEC 623) crew was responsible for one interdiction seizing approximately 2,470 pounds of cocaine.
• The Coast Guard Cutter TAHOMA (WMEC 908) crew was responsible for one interdiction seizing approximately 3,660 pounds of cocaine.

Speakers at the event will include Rear Adm. Brian Penoyer, the Eleventh Coast Guard District commander; Cmdr. James M. O’Mara IV, the Coast Guard Cutter Active commanding officer; Brandon Tucker, Customs and Border Protection Deputy Director of Air Operations for the San Diego Air and Marine Branch; Misha Piastro III, Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Special Agent in Charge - San Diego Field Division; Randy Grossman, the acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of California.

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, 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.

 

The Active is a 210-foot medium endurance cutter, commissioned in 1966 and homeported in Port Angeles, Washington. The Steadfast is a 210-foot medium endurance cutter, commissioned in 1968 and homeported in Astoria, Oregon. The Tahoma is a 270-foot medium endurance cutter, commissioned in 1988 and homeported in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

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