Coast Guard in Miami Beach unloads bales of cocaine with a street value of bout $350m
Wearing protective gloves and masks, members of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Legare carried 127 bales of cocaine — with a street value of about $350 million — off the ship and into a waiting trailer Tuesday.
The 80-pound bricks, which were seized in two separate cases in Southwestern Caribbean waters, were handed over to federal agents and will be destroyed. The drugs are worth about $110 million wholesale. Street value is usually about three times the wholesale value.
“We can safely assume that these drugs probably would have ended up here,” said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Junior Grade Meaghan Gies, who handles the drug program for District 7.
Gies and other Coast Guard members stood at the Miami Beach base Tuesday morning, waiting for the Virginia-based ship’s arrival.
“Between the two, this is probably the biggest offload we have had in a year,” she said as she spotted the vessel making its way to the port.
The drug busts were part of Operation Martillo, an international effort launched in January 2012 to keep drugs from landing on American and international soil. Countries including the United States, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica are working together to protect the Southwestern Caribbean Sea and halt drug shipments before the drugs can be distributed. The countries have bilateral agreements that allow them to board ships in order to stop smuggling operations.
“This seizure is just another successful example of our cooperation with our partners to maintain a forward presence in the Caribbean Sea,” said Marilyn Fajardo, deputy public affairs officer for the U.S. Coast Guard, just before the drugs were taken off the ship. “This is one of our core missions.”
Gies said Operation Martillo, which means hammer in Spanish, focuses on “bulk contraband.”
“About 80 percent of the cocaine comes in through water,” Gies said. “The idea is to stop it before it is broken up into smaller parts and distributed.”
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/15/4060916/coast-guard-unloads-110-million.html#storylink=cpy
Wearing protective gloves and masks, members of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Legare carried 127 bales of cocaine — with a street value of about $350 million — off the ship and into a waiting trailer Tuesday.
The 80-pound bricks, which were seized in two separate cases in Southwestern Caribbean waters, were handed over to federal agents and will be destroyed. The drugs are worth about $110 million wholesale. Street value is usually about three times the wholesale value.
“We can safely assume that these drugs probably would have ended up here,” said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Junior Grade Meaghan Gies, who handles the drug program for District 7.
Gies and other Coast Guard members stood at the Miami Beach base Tuesday morning, waiting for the Virginia-based ship’s arrival.
“Between the two, this is probably the biggest offload we have had in a year,” she said as she spotted the vessel making its way to the port.
The drug busts were part of Operation Martillo, an international effort launched in January 2012 to keep drugs from landing on American and international soil. Countries including the United States, Chile, Colombia and Costa Rica are working together to protect the Southwestern Caribbean Sea and halt drug shipments before the drugs can be distributed. The countries have bilateral agreements that allow them to board ships in order to stop smuggling operations.
“This seizure is just another successful example of our cooperation with our partners to maintain a forward presence in the Caribbean Sea,” said Marilyn Fajardo, deputy public affairs officer for the U.S. Coast Guard, just before the drugs were taken off the ship. “This is one of our core missions.”
Gies said Operation Martillo, which means hammer in Spanish, focuses on “bulk contraband.”
“About 80 percent of the cocaine comes in through water,” Gies said. “The idea is to stop it before it is broken up into smaller parts and distributed.”
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/04/15/4060916/coast-guard-unloads-110-million.html#storylink=cpy
