100,000 pounds of cartel cocaine seized by US Coast Guard
"Operation Pacific Viper" hits hard
The U.S. Coast Guard has seized more than 100,000 pounds of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific Ocean since launching Operation Pacific Viper in early August, averaging over 1,600 pounds of drugs seized from cartel smugglers each day.
The drug seizures and the apprehension of 86 cartel smugglers resulted from 34 interdictions.
“The Coast Guard’s seizure of over 100,000 pounds of cocaine, in such a short timeframe, is a remarkable achievement,” said Rear Adm. Jeffrey Novak, deputy commander of U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area. “When we say the Coast Guard is accelerating counter-narcotics operations, we mean it. We are stopping the flow of deadly drugs that threaten U.S. communities. As we mark our interdiction of 100,000 pounds, we are already working towards the next milestone.”
Detecting and interdicting narco-terrorism on the high seas involves significant interagency and international coordination.
U.S. Southern Command’s Joint Interagency Task Force-South, based in Key West, Florida, detects and monitors both aerial and maritime transit of illegal drugs.
Once interdiction becomes imminent, the law enforcement phase of the operation begins, and control of the operation shifts to the U.S. Coast Guard under the authority and control of the Coast Guard’s Southwest District, headquartered in Alameda, California.
Unlike anti-drug operations conducted by the US military in the Caribbean off Venezuela, the seizures in the Eastern Pacific Ocean have occurred without killing any of the cartel smugglers who were transporting the drugs.
How much damage do you think “Operation Pacific Viper” has inflicted on cartel cocaine smuggling operations?
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Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
I'm amazed at some of the cocaine contraband seizure statistics that you've cited in the past year, Jack. Like Coast Guard interdiction of 173 metric tons of cocaine over the previous 12 months. 173 million grams.
Even at the peak of fad popularity of cocaine back in the 1980s, the DEA was only giving estimates of annual US demand of around 70 metric tons (70 million grams.) How much of the recently confiscated cocaine was intended for a different destination than the US?
Also, in historical terms even the most optimistic estimates of the success of confiscation in lowering the supply have topped out at around 20%. Confiscations inside the US border might account for another 5% of what made it past the border.
That still leaves over 1.2 billion grams available to the retail market every year. A shockingly high amount, even as an estimate of total global demand. Who the hell could possibly be buying that much cocaine? Extraterrestrials?
I doubt that the Coast Guard is making things up. I'm honestly bewildered.
Killing smugglers ensures they don't do it again.
Plus it's a warning of what can happen if you smuggle drugs.
That would put the cartels with a problem of trying to find mules.
Good advertising for anti-drugs.