U.S. Coast Guard and Navy personnel in San Diego Monday offloaded more than 10 tons of drugs confiscated from ocean-going smugglers late last year.
Crews aboard four military ships seized the 11,400 pounds of cocaine and 9,000 pounds of marijuana — a haul that would have been worth more than $211 million on the black market — in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean between October and December, according to USCG public affairs.
"When you are covering a drug-smuggling transit zone the size of the continental United States, every ship makes a huge difference," Coast Guard Lt. Jonathan Dietrich said. "The seamless integration between our law enforcement detachment and the crew of the USS Gabrielle Giffords was a major reason why we were successful in interdicting such a large amount of drugs and (preventing) them from reaching our streets."
The Coast Guard's narcotics interdiction efforts are aimed at thwarting transnational criminal organizations fueled by drug trafficking money and dependent on supply networks in Central and South America, according to the maritime security, law enforcement and search-and-rescue agency.
