Astoria-based cutters seize 8 1/2 tons of cocaine in E. Pacific

The crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Steadfast is scheduled to return home Sunday to Astoria following a counter-drug patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean in which 8 1/2 tons of cocaine worth $260 million were seized.

The crew offloaded approximately 17,160 pounds of cocaine, worth nearly $260 million wholesale, on Monday in San Diego, according to a Coast Guard news release Saturday, which continues below:

The offloaded cocaine was seized by crews aboard two Astoria-based cutters, the Steadfast and the Alert, who interdicted the drugs from four separate suspected smuggling vessels between late June and mid-July in international waters of the Eastern Pacific off the coasts of Central and South America.

“I continue to be impressed by the dedication and tenacity of the crews aboard our cutters and the difficult, dangerous missions they perform,” said Cmdr. Alain Balmaceda, commanding officer of the Steadfast.

“Their hard work means two things. First, more than eight tons of cocaine won’t reach our streets and add to the drug-related deaths and health problems facing our nation. And second, hundreds of millions of dollars are being denied to transnational criminal organizations who spread instability, death and despair wherever they operate.”

More than 11,000 pounds seized by Steadfast’s crew was recovered from one panga-type fishing boat. The suspected smugglers on that boat dumped their cocaine load and managed to evade capture following a high-speed chase, but the trail of cocaine bales recovered is one of the largest loads to be intercepted from a single small vessel in years.

The last single seizure over 11,000 pounds was in March 2016 from a self-propelled semi-submersible craft with approximately 12,786 pounds. The last seizure over 11,000 pounds from a panga was 15,079 pounds in November 2005.

Numerous U.S. agencies from the Department of Defense, Department of Justice and Homeland Security cooperated in the effort to combat transnational organized crime.

The Coast Guard, Navy, Customs and Border Protection, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration and Immigration and Customs Enforcement along with allied and international partner agencies play a role in counter-drug operations.

The fight against transnational organized crime networks in the Eastern Pacific requires unity of effort in all phases from detection, monitoring and interdictions, to criminal prosecutions by U.S. attorneys in districts across the nation.

The Coast Guard increased U.S. and allied presence in the Eastern Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Basin, which are known drug transit zones off of Central and South America, as part of its Western Hemisphere Strategy.

During at-sea interdictions in international waters, a suspect vessel is initially detected and monitored by allied military or law enforcement personnel coordinated by Joint Interagency Task Force-South based in Key West, Florida.

The law enforcement phase of counter-smuggling operations in the Eastern Pacific is conducted under the authority of the 11th Coast Guard District, headquartered in Alameda, California. The interdictions, including the actual boardings, are led and conducted by members of the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Steadfast and Alert are both 210-foot Reliance-Class Medium Endurance cutters with a permanent crew size of approximately 75 crew members. Reliance-Class Medium Endurance Cutters have been in service since the 1960′ and are equipped and capable of conducting a multitude of missions, including law enforcement and search-and-rescue operations.