In two-month operation, Coast Guard crews seize $338 million in cocaine

The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday offloaded about 20,000 pounds of smuggled cocaine worth roughly $338 million at a naval base in San Diego.

The haul represented eight stops by four Coast Guard cutter crews along known drug routes at sea.

From mid-November to mid-January, crews stopped and boarded boats off the west coast of Mexico, Central America and South America, seizing thousands of pounds of cocaine.

The work was in support of Campaign Martillo, which the Coast Guard said in a news release announcing the hauls was a regional initiative that targeted trafficking that threatened “security and prosperity at the national, regional, and international levels.”

According to the Coast Guard, four cutter crews seized the following amounts of cocaine:

• The Thetis had two cases and seized 6,830 pounds;
• The Resolute had one case and took 1,951 pounds;
• The Tampa had two cases and intercepted 4,270 pounds;
• The Munro had three cases and seized 6,680 pounds.

Figueroa writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.