Largest Maritime Drug Bust in US History

You thought the authorities weren't during their job. In a recent sea drug bust, coast guard officials were able to prevent millions of dollars worth of cocaine from being sold in the US to all kinds of unassuming victims. They swooped down on a ship carrying tons of cocaine and are now holding the crew members found aboard the ship for further investigation. Approximately 20 tons or 40,000 lbs of cocaine were taken off of a Panamanian freighter at sea at Coast Guard Island in Almeda County. Under the watchful eyes of authorities, the cocaine was then put on display in Almeda on Monday stacked on the docks in 765 bags.

The cocaine was discovered while crew members from the Cutter Sherman were patrolling approximately 20 miles of the coast of Panama. When found, the drugs were in 12 large cargo containers that were strapped to the ship's deck. At first the crew was not sure how much cocaine was on board the ship because initially the crew was only able to pry the doors open about eight inches. However, someone had a digital camera and was able to nudge it thorough to take some pictures of what was really inside. From the pictures, it seemed like authorities had discovered something really big.

On the street, the drugs would have had an approximate value of 500 million. Boatswain Mate 1st class Michael Aguilera said, " About halfway through counting the bags we knew me must be close to the record in terms of seizures."

Furthermore, the crew that seized the cocaine took 14 Mexican and Panamanian crew into custody. They are now waiting for prosecution. It is believed that the cocaine was headed for United States by way of Mexico. However, now the course of the cocaine has been veered and it will be destroyed in Miami.

Previously, the largest cocaine seizures occurred aboard the Gatun. Thirteen tons of cocaine were taken from this vessel that was flagged in Cambodia in 2001. 15 tons were taken from the Lina Maria in 2004.
Authorities that made the cocaine discovery could not believe what they had found. Never had they imagined that they would make such a large capture of narcotics.