San Diego-Based Ship Helps With $363 Million Cocaine Bust

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Credit: U.S. Pacific Fleet

Above: USS McClusky

The San Diego-based USS McClusky was involved in helping seize almost 5,000 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $363 million, according to the Associated Press. The drugs were seized from a speed boat in the Caribbean Sea.

The AP reports after U.S. Customs agents detected there were drugs aboard the boat, a helicopter from the Norfolk-based USS Nicholas took off to track it. The smugglers aboard the boat dumped half of the cocaine overboard when the helicopter was spotted - and that's when the USS McClusky got involved:

A helicopter on the San Diego-based McClusky diverted the boat back to Colombian waters, where local authorities stopped it.

The drug bust was part of a operation by Columbia to stop drug trafficking in the waters of the western Caribbean Sea.