A Coast Guard cutter deployed near Puerto Rico interdicted a suspected drug boat carrying approximately $54.5 million worth of cocaine that authorities believe was headed to the United States from Latin America.
The crew of the CGC Richard Dixon intercepted five people aboard a small boat roughly 50 miles south of the Caribbean U.S. territory on Friday, the Department of Homeland Security military branch announced Thursday morning.
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The boat was filled with bundles of cocaine that totaled 7,250 pounds. The Coast Guard destroyed the boat and the cocaine at sea.
“The Richard Dixon crew, Air Station Miami and our Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations partners stopped more than 7,000 pounds of cocaine before it could reach our communities, and we will keep taking the fight to the criminal networks that threaten our region,” Adm. Adam Chamie, the Coast Guard Southeast District commander, said in a statement.
Lt. Cmdr. Michael Torgesen, the CGC Richard Dixon commanding officer, called it an “outstanding team effort thanks to seamless coordination” between the Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations.
The five people on board were not identified by the Coast Guard but were detained and could face federal drug smuggling charges.
The Coast Guard heavily relies on CBP’s AMO pilots and crew flying in the sky to spot suspected drug boats in the international waters around Central America, South America, and the Caribbean.
As of 2019, the Drug Enforcement Administration estimated CBP’s planes had stopped $3.37 billion worth of cocaine last year and just shy of $25 billion worth of cocaine from being trafficked to the U.S. over the past decade.
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