$729M Worth of Central and South American Cocaine Seized by U.S. Coast Guard

Nick Kangadis | July 24, 2018
DONATE
Font Size

Holy Tony Montana, Batman! It looks as though nothing has changed over the last 40 years or so in terms of drug cartels from both Central and South America attempting to flood American shores with life-altering drugs, like cocaine.

The Coast Guard is reporting that they just seized $729 million dollars worth of cocaine in the last two months alone! The Washington Examiner reported that the Coast Guard obtained “approximately 52,900 pounds of cocaine” from smugglers attempting to bring the drug into the U.S. by boat from Central and South America.

According to the Washington Examiner:

Fifty-seven suspected smugglers were also taken into custody.

Three ships from the Coast Guard's Medium Endurance Cutter fleet returned last week from deployments to the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Basin, which are high drug transit zones for cartels trying to ship product from Central and South America to North America.

Coast Guard Cutters Venturous, Steadfast, and Alert seized the majority of the cocaine, aided by Hamilton, Tampa, and Mohawk.

Cocaine has seen a resurgence in the last few years after it was reported in September of 2017 by Business Insider that “the cultivation of coca, the base ingredient of cocaine, in Colombia spiked 134 percent between 2013 and 2016.”

Earlier in 2017, Business Insider also reported that Colombia’s cocaine production is “at a record-high.”

This is one of the very important reasons why protecting our borders in paramount to national security. Conjecture by critics on the border security — or lack thereof if they had their way — gets the U.S. nowhere in the constant battle against Latin American cartels.

donate