Lone U.S. Coast Guard vessel nabs nearly 15 tons of cocaine in 2015
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - A single U.S. Coast Guard cutter seized nearly 15 tons of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific this year as part of the most successful counternarcotics operation in the region since 2009, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement.
The Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf unloaded the drug haul, along with 10 tons of cocaine seized by other U.S. and Canadian vessels, in the port of San Diego on Thursday, Coast Guard spokesman Dan Dewell said.
In all, the drugs had a value of $748 million, according to a statement from Johnson released on Friday.
In the Bertholf's single largest drug bust, as it patrolled off the Pacific coast of Central and South America this year, about 7.5 tons of cocaine were discovered aboard a drug-laden so-called narco submarine on Aug. 31, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
(Reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Tom Brown)
