The U.S. Coast Guard seized more than 2,000 pounds of suspected marijuana, estimated to be worth over $2.4 million, after a patrol crew stopped a suspicious high-speed vessel, officials said.
According to Joint Interagency Task Force South, known as JIATF-S, crews later recovered 47 bales along the boat’s previous path, with the haul weighing a total of 2,082 pounds.
Four individuals were detained as part of the Coast Guard drug interdiction operation, JIATF-S said.
Authorities said the seizure unfolded during a routine patrol when the crew aboard the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba spotted what they described as “a suspicious go-fast vessel” and sent out a boat team to investigate.
Coast Guard crews recovered 47 bales of suspected marijuana totaling 2,082 pounds, with an estimated value of more than $2.4 million, Joint Interagency Task Force South said. (Joint Interagency Task Force South)
“The vessel stopped without further incident,” JIATF-S said in a statement.
As the operation continued, Coast Guard personnel located what officials called a “bale field” along the route the vessel had traveled and retrieved the suspected marijuana from the water.
JIATF-S said the mission demanded “vigilance, professionalism, and seamless coordination,” from the initial detection and pursuit through evidence recovery and search-and-rescue support.
Coast Guard crews discovered what officials described as a “bale field” along the vessel’s prior route before recovering 47 bales of suspected marijuana. (Joint Interagency Task Force South)
JIATF-S did not specify where the incident took place, but thanked the Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba and Joint Rescue Coordination Center Haiti for their “timely support, search assistance, and coordination throughout the operation.”
The drug seizure comes amid the Trump administration’s ongoing campaign targeting narcotics trafficking networks in the Western Hemisphere.
U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) touted the operation, saying the “bust is another demonstration of the United States’ resolve to stop the flow of dangerous drugs into the homeland.”
This week, SOUTHCOM said it conducted two operations in which U.S. forces intercepted and sank vessels in the Eastern Pacific that the military said were tied to Los Choneros, which it described as a violent narco-terrorist organization.
More than $2.4 million worth of suspected marijuana was recovered during a Coast Guard operation involving a suspicious go-fast vessel, according to military officials. (Joint Interagency Task Force South)
The U.S. military has also been involved in a monthslong campaign launched by the Trump administration aimed at dismantling cartel-linked trafficking networks, including dozens of strikes in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean targeting vessels it says are connected to “narco-terrorists.”
U.S. officials said the Coast Guard operation disrupted another suspected maritime drug-trafficking effort as authorities target narcotics networks across the Western Hemisphere. (Joint Interagency Task Force South)
The latest seizure follows another major Coast Guard drug bust off the coast of Puerto Rico last month.
The Coast Guard intercepted a suspected smuggling boat nearly 50 miles off the coast of the U.S. territory and discovered more than 7,000 pounds of cocaine worth about $54.5 million.
Five people aboard the suspected smuggling vessel were detained and taken into custody as part of that investigation.
