Well Blow Me Down! Coast Guard Brings 5 Tons of Cocaine to Miami
Officials bringing 9,200 pounds of seized cocaine to Miami Beach
By BRIAN HAMACHER
Updated 11:41 AM EST, Thu, Nov 5, 2009
Those pirates trolling the waters off Somalia got nothing on the Coast Guard in Miami.
When the Coast Guard Cutter Valiant drifts into Miami Beach this morning, it'll be about 9,200 pounds heavier and $127 million dollars richer thanks to a 30-day mission that yielded five tons of cocaine booty.
The cocaine was nabbed in four seperate seizures throughout October in the waters of the Caribbean Sea, according to the Coast Guard.
Several suspects were arrested in the operation which recovered 191 bales of cocaine in the 30-day period, worth an estimated street value of $127 million.
We're not sure if that's a record haul for one month but it's still a lot of blow.
In the first mission, on Oct. 10, 39 bales of cocaine, weighing 1,900 pounds, were recovered off the coast of Panama. The second recovery, on Oct. 20, yielded two bales, 100 pounds worth of powder, off the coast of Colombia. Five days later, on Oct. 25, 3,500 pounds packed into 76 bales were recovered off the coast of Panama, with several arrests made. The final operation was the heaviest, netting 74 bales weighing 3,700 pounds, off the coast of Nicaragua.
The haul will be offloaded today at the Coast Guard Base in Miami Beach, where it will be turned over to law enforcement agencies. The Valiant will receive four snowflake stickers to display on its sides for making the busts.
First Published: Nov 5, 2009 11:20 AM EST
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