SAN DIEGO _ Two months. Eight stops. About 20,000 pounds of smuggled cocaine, worth roughly $338 million.
On Monday, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter crew docked in San Diego and offloaded the hefty hauls that cutter crews intercepted from boats in the eastern Pacific Ocean carrying bundles of the illegal drug.
Coast Guard officials said that in eight different incidents between mid-November and mid-January, four of its cutter crews stopped and boarded eight boats in known drug routes at sea and seized nearly 20,000 pounds of cocaine. The incidents occurred off the west coasts of Mexico, Central and South America.
The work was in support of Campaign Martillo, which the Coast Guard said in a news release announcing the hauls is a regional initiative that targets trafficking "that threatens 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.
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