SAN DIEGO (CNS) - U.S. Coast Guard personnel in San Diego Friday offloaded roughly six tons of cocaine seized in recent weeks by the crews of four cutters during patrols in the Eastern Pacific.
The drug haul, intercepted in international waters off the coast of Central and South America from mid-January through February, was unloaded at the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal in Barrio Logan.
The maritime agency impounded the narcotics during eight interdictions of drug-smuggling vessels and, in one case, by collecting bales of cocaine dumped in the ocean by fleeing traffickers, according to USCG public affairs.
Participating in the enforcement operations were personnel aboard the cutters Mohawk, Sherman, Spencer and Stratton.
"We had a tremendously successful deployment from start to finish, and I could not be more proud of the crew," said Capt. Nathan Moore, commanding officer of the Stratton, whose crew offloaded the seized cocaine in the Port of San Diego Friday morning.
Overall surveillance and counter-smuggling patrols in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean are coordinated by Joint Interagency Task Force South, a multi-service national agency headquartered in Florida.
The law enforcement phase of the counter-drug mission in the Eastern Pacific occurs under the tactical control of the Alameda-based 11th Coast Guard District.
