Record cocaine haul had

The U.S. Coast Guard offloaded over 38 tons of cocaine and marijuana Monday morning at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. It’s the largest cocaine offload in Coast Guard history, officials said.

The 76,140 pounds of illegal narcotics were seized during 19 interdictions in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea, according to the Coast Guard.

The drugs were brought to port by the Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton.

On hand for the offload were Coast Guard Rear Admiral Adam Chamie, commander of the southeast district, and U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Chase Sargeant, deputy director of the Joint Interagency Task Force-South.

“The crew of Hamilton, who have been on the ship for over the last two months, personally interdicted over 47,000 pounds cocaine. These men and women put themselves in harm’s way time and again to stop the bad guys, apprehend the smugglers and seize the drugs. This is grueling and dangerous work, and I am extremely proud of them,” Chamie said. 

Chamie said the crew of the Hamilton was joined by several other Coast Guard, Department of Defense and Department of Homeland Security units during the deployment. He added that they also had international assistance, explaining that the Royal Netherlands Navy and the crew of HNLMS Friesland took part.

Enough cocaine to kill everyone in Florida

Chamie said the crews interdicted a total of 61,740 pounds of cocaine and 14,400 pounds of bulk marijuana, a staggering $473 million in illegal narcotics, before they could reach the shores of the U.S. 

“To truly understand the significance of this offload, consider this. The 61,740 pounds of cocaine represents 23 million potentially lethal doses. That’s enough to fatally overdose the entire population of the state of Florida. Think about that for a moment, enough cocaine to kill everyone in Florida,” Chamie said. “That’s the immense scale of the threat we face.”

Chamie said maritime interdictions are the most effective way to stop these deadly drugs “before they reach our communities, before they destroy lives and tear our families apart.”

Rear Admiral Chase Sargeant said the ongoing joint operations are making a difference.

“I think if you want to see, in general, what is keeping America safe from drugs, it’s this. The work they are doing out there every day, every night, 365, 24/7, out in the East Pac, in the Eastern Pacific, and the Caribbean. This is what’s keeping drugs off the streets of America and this is what’s winning the war on drugs,” he said.

Recent Coast Guard cocaine seizures leading up to record offload

• May 29: The Coast Guard offloaded more than 28,500 pounds of cocaine worth $211.3 million at Port Everglades following four successful interdictions in the Eastern Pacific.

• May 10: Coast Guard crews recovered 3,984 pounds of cocaine from a bale field 660 miles south of Acapulco, Mexico.

• May 6: An embarked helicopter crew observed vessels discarding bales, leading to the retrieval of 14,559 pounds of cocaine from three bale fields 575 miles southwest of Acapulco, Mexico.

• May 5: Crews recovered 9,993 pounds of cocaine from a bale field 475 miles southwest of Colima, Mexico.

• May 3: A patrol aircraft spotted two suspicious vessels 170 miles west of Mexico, leading to the interdiction of 4,630 pounds of cocaine, with most transferred to Ecuadorian authorities.