SAN DIEGO — U.S. Coast Guard crews unloaded thousands of pounds of cocaine and cannabis in San Diego Wednesday after seizing the drugs in international waters during January and February.
The estimated $126.7 million worth of drugs were taken by authorities from 10 suspected drug smuggling vessels that several Coast Guard cutter crews stopped off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America. Together, the drugs weighed approximately 7,500 pounds.
Military officials shared photos of the busts, with Coast Guard crews sitting atop low-profile vessels often called “narco subs,” which they spotted and stopped as they cruised through international waters on known drug smuggling routes. Other photos showed pangas, the small fishing boats often used to smuggle people and drugs into the U.S.
A Coast Guard Cutter Munro boarding team member sits atop a low-profile vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Jan. 27, 2021. The teams discovered nearly 3,500 pounds of cocaine aboard the purpose-built drug smuggling vessel. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/caption courtesy of the Coast Guard Cutter Munro.) 
Coast Guard Cutter Munro boarding team member sits atop an interdicted low-profile vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean after crews seized 3,439 pounds of cocaine, Jan. 27, 2021. Munro is one of two Alameda, California-based cutters whose crews interdicted a combined three suspected drug smuggling vessels in the Eastern Pacific Ocean between Jan. 26 and Feb. 1 resulting in the seizure of more than 9,000 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $156 million. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/caption courtesy of the Coast Guard Cutter Munro.) 
Coast Guard Cutter Munro boarding teams discover contraband concealed within a fishing vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Jan. 25, 2021. Exercising a bilateral agreement with a partner nation, the boarding teams searched and discovered 1,300 pounds of cocaine concealed within the vessel. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/caption courtesy of the Coast Guard Cutter Munro.) 
Coast Guard Cutter Munro boarding team members sit atop a low-profile vessel interdicted by the crews in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Jan. 27, 2021. The teams discovered almost 3,500 pounds of cocaine aboard the purpose-built drug smuggling vessel. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/caption courtesy of the Coast Guard Cutter Munro) 
A Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf boarding team member stands atop an interdicted low-profile vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Feb. 1, 2021. Cartels design low-profile vessels specifically to evade law enforcement and to ferry large quantities of illicit contraband while riding low in the water. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/caption courtesy of the Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf.) 
A panga-style vessel is shown in front of The Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, Jan. 24, 2021. The CGC Bertholf seized approximately 1,780 pounds of cocaine from the vessel, worth an estimated $33.7M. (U.S. Coast Guard courtesy photo/caption) 
Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf boarding teams interdict a low-profile vessel in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, seizing more than 4,380 pounds of cocaine, Feb. 1, 2021. Bertholf is one of two Alameda, California-based cutters who’s crews interdicted a combined three suspected drug smuggling vessels in the Eastern Pacific Ocean between Jan. 26 and Feb. 1 resulting in the seizure of more than 9,000 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $156 million. (U.S. Coast Guard photo/caption courtesy of the Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf.) 
Coast Guard members stand on deck as crews returned to San Diego on March 10 to unload thousands of pounds of drugs seized in international waters. 
Bundles of drugs — worth an estimated $126 million — unloaded in San Diego March 10 after Coast Guard crews seized the substances during two months at sea.
At least in some cases, the Coast Guard said the drug busts were carried out through “a bilateral agreement with a partner nation.” The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act of 1986 made smuggling in international waters a crime against the U.S., so anyone caught moving drugs on the water could be prosecuted even if those drugs were not bound for the U.S.
The Coast Guard is the agency tasked with hunting down potential smugglers, arresting them and bringing them to the U.S. for prosecution.
Coast Guard Cutters Bertholf, Munro, Harriet Lane and Vigilant, along with the branch’s Law Enforcement Detachment 107, were credited with the busts. They were assisted by the U.S. Navy, Customs and Border Protection, FBI, DEA and ICE.
“The fight against drug cartels in the Eastern Pacific Ocean requires unity of effort in all phases from detection, monitoring and interdictions, to criminal prosecutions by international partners and U.S. Attorneys’ Offices in districts across the nation,” USCG officials wrote in a statement.
“The law enforcement phase of counter-smuggling operations in the Eastern Pacific Ocean is conducted under the authority of the 11th Coast Guard District, headquartered in Alameda.”
