The crew of the US Coast Guard Cutter ‘Resolute’ offloaded approximately 1 ton of marijuana Tuesday in St. Petersburg worth an estimated $2.2 million total wholesale, seized during a 71-day deployment in international waters in the Caribbean Sea.
On March 17, Resolute crewmembers, with the assistance of a Customs and Border Protection aircraft crew, interdicted two suspected drug smuggling vessels carrying a combined total of 2,600 pounds of marijuana and detained seven suspected drug smugglers as part of Operation Riptide.
Cmdr. Carmen DeGeorge, the Resolute’s commanding officer, noted:
By working hand-in-hand with DHS partners and the nation of Jamaica, we were able to efficiently interdict the 2,600 pounds of marijuana seen on the pier today. Today’s offload represents the ongoing commitment of US and international partners to combat transnational criminal networks and promote stability across the Caribbean region.
Last month, the USCG seized and offloaded approximately 491.5 kilograms of cocaine and 9.2 kilograms of heroin, worth an estimated value of $13.3 million, at Sector San Juan, following an interagency interdiction by Caribbean Border Interagency Group partner agencies in the Caribbean Sea, off Puerto Rico.
During another counter-drug patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean on February and March, the USCG seized approximately 36,000 pounds of cocaine, representing 17 interdictions of suspected smuggling vessels off the coasts of Central and South America.
