Boat with 19.4 TONS of cocaine seized in one of the biggest busts in history [MERGED]

omg. someone must be fucking killin motherfuckers.

i just want 1 of those little squares :-D.
 
Coast Guard hauls in 20 tons of cocaine in record bust

ALAMEDA, California (Reuters) -- The U.S. Coast Guard unloaded nearly 20 tons of cocaine with a retail street value of $600 million at a California port Monday following what they called the largest drug bust at sea.

The armed Coast Guard Cutter Sherman made the bust March 17 when it stopped the Panamanian cargo ship Gatun about 20 miles off a Panamanian island.

On Monday, dozens of Coast Guard officials under heavy armed protection hauled bales of tightly wrapped packs of cocaine onto a pier at the service's West Coast command center near Oakland, California.

"It was the largest bust in U.S. history. It's the largest interdiction on the ocean," Lt. Brock Eckel, one of the officers from the Sherman who discovered the illegal drugs, said in an interview. "It was very exciting, of course. Fifteen guys moved 20 tons of contraband in five hours, so it was very exhausting."

The find aboard the Gatun, which was heading from Panama to Mexico in the Pacific Ocean, came late at night following a tip from an intelligence source, officials said.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Keith Alholm estimated the U.S. street value of the record bust at $300 million wholesale, $600 million retail.

The cargo ship's 14 crew members were Panamanians and Mexicans, who acted nervously but were not armed and offered no resistance when stopped, according to Coast Guard officials who were present during the inspection. The cargo ship also carried tiles and sand.

"If you try to fight with the U.S. Coast Guard, you come out on the losing end. It would be futile," said Charles DeMore, head of the San Francisco office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

The Panamanians were handed over to Panama while the Mexicans were taken into U.S. custody, Eckel said. The drugs would be transferred to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency for eventual incineration.

The Coast Guard ship had experienced mechanical difficulties during its mission and was running so low on water that the crew had stopped showering by the time of the March 17 raid, officials said.

"At the end of the day there is nothing like a good drug bust to lift everyone's spirit," said the ship's captain, Charlie Diaz. "We were, of course, elated."

The Alameda, California-based crew also made two smaller drug interdictions during their 101-day patrol at sea, officials said.

Copyright 2007 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/23/drugs.coastguard.reut/index.html
 
"Coast Guard Petty Officer Keith Alholm estimated the U.S. street value of the record bust at $300 million wholesale, $600 million retail."

Very interesting that was added.
 
News: Largest Maritime Cocaine Bust

Didn't happen in Australia, but 20 ton of coke is impressive in any country!

Largest Maritime Cocaine Bust Unloaded In Alameda

POSTED: 7:50 am PDT April 23, 2007
UPDATED: 9:26 am PDT April 23, 2007

ALAMEDA -- About 20 tons of cocaine -- seized in the largest maritime bust in U.S. history with a street value of $500 million -- was unloaded under heavy guard Monday at Coast Guard Island in Alameda County.

U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Charley Diaz said the bust took place in the waters off Panama last month.

"The bust was pretty amazing," Diaz said. "We were told to go identify a vessel that had been spotted by a Coast Guard C-130. We found the vessel and sent a boarding team aboard. There were some inconsistencies between what the master was saying was in the containers and what the crew manifest said."

"We searched the vessel -- The first two containers we looked in were piled high with cocaine."

In all, the crew found 765 bales --- weighing about 50 pounds a piece -- stacked neatly on the Panamanian freighter.

"The crew is ecstatic," Diaz told KTVU. "It's the largest drug bust in U.S. history… It's not something you do every day."

Diaz said there was no resistance from the crew of the freighter.

The bust came during the Coast Guard cutter Sherman's three-month voyage for eastern Pacific law enforcement in the waters off of Central and South America.

Diaz said the drugs were to be flown to Miami where the Drug Enforcement Agency will dispose of them.
Click to expand...

Source

Happened last month, but it only made the news this morning on the Today show, wonder why the delay?
 
"If you try to fight with the U.S. Coast Guard, you come out on the losing end. It would be futile,"

That's a pretty cocky statement seeing as...

"The armed Coast Guard Cutter Sherman made the bust"

"The cargo ship's 14 crew members were Panamanians and Mexicans...were not armed and offered no resistance when stopped, according to Coast Guard officials"

They cooperated, why do you need to be so self-glorifying? Anyway, this sucks, it would be nice to see more coke in CA, even though it's North CA...would have eventually made it's way down south.
 
^^^^ It's budget-request time in the USA. Fact is, 99% of the time there's no need to fight with the Coast Guard/DEA/<insert LE agency of your choice here> because the smugglers are never detected.

So the cowboys have to milk the shit out of the 1% success rate and create the illusion that such senseless waste of taxpayer money works toward the public good. To do this they employ the usual Hollywood props and (as you said) self-glorifying, testosterone-fueled battle slogans, "YOU WILL BE DESTROYED! RESISTANCE IS FUTILE!"

Since the Coast Guard and DEA like to play with guns, there would be some sad little boys indeed if Washington didn't approve an annual 6-shooter budget with which to take pot-shots at all the naughty indians.
 
This is only 1 of 1000's of such ships they busted so no big deal, cops are happy and so are the competitors of whomever's cargo that was.

I bet there was a much BIGGER shipment coming in at the same time and cops were tipped off to this one to keep them busy.

;)
 
^^^^ lol....no doubt. While the cowboys were celebrating the savior of the Western World from deadly narcotics, 100 tons were leisurely plodding up the Baja peninsula in an oil tanker headed for San Diego. :D
 
^ROLF, I would hope they would be :D

The ammounts of Coke coming out of this region on a weekly basis is staggering. This is bust was relitively small compared with some of the 100 ton busts that took place over the past year.. So so so many white lines...%)
 
Bent Mk2 said:
Diaz said the drugs were to be flown to Miami where the Drug Enforcement Agency will dispose of them
Click to expand...

yep, 50 tons'll go all on the one plane wont it

anyone going to miami anytime soon? bring me back a souvenir will u
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top