The US Coast Guard offloaded more than $96 million in seized cocaine in Florida this week after a series of busts in the Caribbean Sea — as three drug smugglers await federal prosecution for their alleged crimes.
Crew members of the Coast Guard Cutter Forward formed a human chain Monday as they moved 7,302 pounds of packed-up coke off the boat and onto pallets in Port Everglades, according to a government press release.
By the end of the day, they’d stacked practically countless blocks of the illicit drugs in a series of Jenga-like towers along the water’s edge, a video provided by the agency showed.
The Coast Guard — along with the US Navy and the Royal Netherlands Navy — snatched the drugs during three separate busts in international waters, the statement said.
“This was another vital success of our combined drug interdiction efforts,” Lt. Cmdr. Juan Ramirez, a staff attorney from Coast Guard District Seven, said in the release.
“These drug offloads underscore our continued partnerships with the U.S. Navy and the Royal Netherlands Navy in combating the flow of illicit narcotics across the Caribbean,” he continued.
“The success of our joint efforts to save lives by reducing the availability of these harmful drugs is dependent on our cooperation with regional and international partners.”
Federal authorities will prosecute the three suspects, who were not identified.
Coast Guard seizures in the Caribbean are conducted under the authority of the agency’s Seventh District, based in Miami.
