The U.S. Coast Guard captured seven suspected smugglers transporting practically 13,000 kilos of cocaine within the Pacific over the weekend and subsequently burned the boat till it sank, as a part of Operation Pacific Viper.
“After intercepting one drug smuggling vessel, Stone sank the vessel in a live-fire exercise, removing it permanently from cartel use,” reads a Coast Guard Fb put up from Sept. 9.
The Coast Guard added that by way of Operation Pacific Viper, it’s rising its belongings within the Japanese Pacific to disrupt the actions of transnational legal organizations and stop unlawful medication from reaching U.S. shores and Americans.
“This is where defending America begins,” it famous.
The U.S. Division of Homeland Safety (DHS) introduced on Aug. 20 its Operation Pacific Viper, which the Coast Guard has applied since June within the Japanese Pacific to cease drug cartels and legal organizations, with extra forceful actions in opposition to human trafficking alongside maritime routes.
“Since launching Pacific Viper, the Coast Guard has hunted down, interdicted, and boarded several illegal vessels, seizing thousands of pounds of drugs and detaining several smugglers,” the DHS stated in a press release.
Homeland Safety Secretary Kristi Noem revealed that 80 p.c of illicit drug seizures in america happen at sea.
“The U.S. Coast Guard is surging maritime interdictions in the Eastern Pacific to stop the cartels and criminal organizations—cutting off drugs and human smuggling before it reaches American shores,” Noem stated within the assertion.
Then, on Aug. 25, the Coast Guard reported a historic milestone by offloading at Port Everglades greater than 76,140 kilos of unlawful narcotics, valued at $473 million, seized within the waters of the Pacific and Caribbean Sea by maritime patrol, as a part of the accomplishments of Operation Pacific Viper.
“This combined illegal narcotics offload prevented the maritime flow of approximately 23 million potential lethal doses from reaching the United States,” the Coast Guard stated in an Aug. 25 assertion.
Since mid-August, america has additionally deployed lots of of naval patrol belongings, together with search and rescue vessels and plane, to the southern Caribbean Sea to fight unlawful drug trafficking.
“As a Member of the Armed Services [Committee], I can confirm this is the largest military presence we have ever had off the coast of Venezuela,” stated U.S. Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) in an Aug. 25 put up on X.
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