The San Diego-based USS Vandegrift crew teamed up with the U.S. Coast Guard to uncover roughly 875 pounds of cocaine that was hidden on a fishing boat off the coast of Central America.
This is how the drug bust went down, according to the Navy: The Vandegrift first spotted the fishing boat on its radar, and deemed it suspicious.
The Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate then approached the fishy fishing boat, and deployed a SH-60B Sea Hawk helicopter to get a better look at the vessel.
The Eleventh Coast Guard District, based in San Diego, got involved, telling the Vandegrift to send its Coast Guard LEDET/Navy Visit Board Search and Seizure boat to intercept the fishing boat.
The crew of the Navy/Coast Guard boat then boarded the fishing vessel and searched it...
...discovering approximately 400 individually wrapped packages of cocaine hidden within the ship.
The USS Vandegrift departed San Diego in May for a deployment to South and Central America. Since then, the Vandegrift has intercepted four drug operations involved in smuggling roughly 5800 pounds of cocaine.
