US Coast Guard seized a record $1 billion worth of heroin and cocaine
The US Coast Guard seized a record $1 billion worth of heroin and cocaine over a four-month period, providing further evidence that maritime drug trafficking in Latin America is seeing a resurgence.
The Coast Guard’s record haul included 32 tons of cocaine and two tons of heroin seized during operations that ran from April to July, reported Reuters. Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Paul Zukunft said more narcotics have been seized off the coast of Mexico and Central America during fiscal year 2015 than in the last three years combined.
The Coast Guard mission involved 23 separate interdictions that led to the arrests of over 215 drug traffickers, reported Fox News. This includes one operation in which the Coast Guard seized a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel transiting over eight tons of cocaine off El Salvador’s Pacific coast. (See US Coast Guard video below).
