More than 4,800 pounds of the drug were offloaded at Port Everglades in Broward County, the Coast Guard said.
❌❄️@USCG Cutter Resolute's crew offloaded more than 4,800 pounds of cocaine, worth over $63 million, at @PortEverglades, Thurs. This offload was the result of 2 interdictions by HNMLS Groningen with embarked USCG LEDET 110 and HITRON, 24 miles north of Puerto Cabello, Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/efJcbD8f4i
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) June 6, 2024
The drugs were found during two interdictions about 24 miles north of Puerto Cabello, Venezuela.
On one of the interdictions, a Royal Netherlands Navy ship with an embarked U.S. Coast Guard detachment in the Caribbean Sea identified on Tuesday a vessel suspected of smuggling drugs, the Coast Guard said in a press release.
The vessel did not follow orders to stop and instead increased its speed and changed directions toward a Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard boat, called a fast-raiding interception and special forces craft, or FRISC.
Crew members on the FRISC, which included U.S. and Dutch Coast Guard, discharged weapons at the vessel “in self-defense and defense of others in response to the life-threatening situation,” the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The vessel caught fire and sank and three suspected smugglers went overboard. A search for the smugglers was suspended Tuesday evening.