One of the most successful drug busts has been made by the US Coast Guard after US$1 billion (66,000lbs) worth of cocaine was seized off the Central and Southern American Coasts, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The seizure occurred as a result of 23 separate confrontations with drug smugglers in the Pacific, making it the largest drug bust ever in US Coast Guard history.
Admiral Paul Zukunft, Commandant of the US Coast Guard, was reported as saying: “There is still work to be done. We must increase already hard-earned momentum to curb the rising tide of crime, violence and instability in our hemisphere.”
For the current fiscal year, the US Coast Guard has seized more than US$1.8 billion worth of cocaine, totalling more than 115,000 pounds of the substance.
There has been a number of incidents recently, involving the seizure of 35lbs of cocaine at Port Newark after being concealed amongst more than 1,000 cartons of wine within a shipping container.
Drug smugglers will often use alternative ways to ensure that their products are not seized by the authorities, such as via encrypted SMS messages or email.
