Coast Guard Offloads Six Tons Of Cocaine At Port Everglades

Follow CBSMIAMI.COM: Facebook | Twitter

FT LAUDERDALE (CBSMiami) - A U.S. Coast Guard crew spent Thursday morning offloading six tons of cocaine at Port Everglades.

The drugs were brought in by the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter James.

The drugs were seized in six separate drug smuggling interdictions off the coasts of Central and South America, and Mexico, between late February and April.

The Cutter James crew made three of the interdictions, seizing a little more than two tons of the illegal drug. The crew of the Cutter Bear made two seizures which netted three tons of coke and the crew of the Cutter Bertholf made one interdiction and seized a little more than 1,60 pounds of the white stuff.

"Short amount of time, 6 tons of cocaine," said Cutter James Captain Mark Fedor. "Each of those bails is really the embodiment of violence, corruption, and instability in a Central America region that just can't absorb it."

The drugs are estimated to be worth approximately $179 million.

"Our motto on board is 'We own the night'. We have a lot of sensors that can find these small boats in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in the middle of nowhere," said Fedor.

The ship Fedor commands is the most technologically advanced in the entire Coast Guard.

"These are small 35 to 40 foot go fast vessels, they're open construction, multiple outboard engines and they leave Columbia to run hundreds of miles sometimes thousands of miles to get to their destination," said Fedor.

The vast majority of the cocaine will be destroyed some of it will be held for the prosecution of drug smuggling suspects.

It was the final operation for Fedor and the end of a 25-year career.