The U.S. Coast Guard has made a drug bust valued at more than $33 million as part of an interdiction effort launched by the Trump administration last year.
The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Escanaba seized 4,510 pounds of cocaine, worth $33.9 million, while on an Easter Sunday patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, according to a Department of Homeland Security news release.
A U.S. patrol aircraft alerted the Escanaba after it spotted a suspected narco-terrorist vessel, and the crew started throwing suspected contraband overboard.
An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter was launched after the contact off the coast of Ecuador.
The release said that the cutter “deployed its over-the-horizon cutter pursuit boat crew and relaunched the helicopter aircrew to recover the contraband.”
The action was part of Operation Pacific Viper.
Hellbound and Down 