Florida Arrests Net $1 Billion in Cocaine, a One-Day Record

Two tons of cocaine worth an estimated $1 billion were seized several hours apart Wednesday from a speedboat in Biscayne Bay and a camper on a highway from the Florida Keys in what officials said was the biggest single-day narcotics haul in the nation’s history.

The Coast Guard chased three smugglers for eight miles across Biscayne Bay until they jumped overboard and abandoned their boat packed with 1,909 pounds of cocaine.

The suspects swam several hundred yards to shore and two escaped, but police captured one man, Raphael Soto, 35, in a park a block away. He was being held without bond on drug possession charges.

“They found him hiding in some bushes. He was soaking wet,” Coast Guard Petty Officer Brenda Flint said. “He didn’t resist the arrest.”

Drugs Inside Winnebagos

In Florida City, police stopped a Winnebago camper at about 3 a.m. and found 2,100 pounds of cocaine stuffed in duffel bags.

Two hours earlier, a Florida City patrolman had stopped another Winnebago camper headed north from the Florida Keys because its taillight was out. The officer found the camper loaded with 2,094 pounds of marijuana.

Police stopped the second camper because they “suspected additional drug shipments were on the way,” said a spokeswoman.

Four men, two in each camper, were arrested.

Coast Guard Lt. Jim Simpson said the cocaine would have a street sale value of at least $1 billion.

The cocaine seizure from the camper was the fifth largest in the nation’s history. The Biscayne Bay find was the biggest maritime cocaine seizure in the United States and the sixth largest ever, officials said.

The largest was 3,911 pounds seized aboard a cargo plane at Miami International Airport on March 9, 1982.

The chase in Biscayne Bay started when a Coast Guard helicopter on patrol spotted the boat running without lights. The helicopter swooped down and radioed a patrol boat that raced after the smugglers until they jumped overboard 10 minutes later, officials said.