US Coast Guard seizes $1bn worth of Colombian narcotics

The haul highlights use of high-tech equipment including heat-detecting drones and infrared cameras

US Coast Guard personnel offload about $1bn in cocaine and marijuana from the deck of cutter 'James' at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on February 17. AFP

A US Coast Guard vessel on Thursday offloaded more than 30 tonnes of cocaine and marijuana reportedly worth more than $1 billion, which was seized at sea during a months-long operation off the coast of South America.

The haul of illegal narcotics taken home by the US Coast Guard cutter James was one of the biggest in recent memory, using sophisticated equipment that includes powerful drones and infrared cameras that can detect heat from small cocaine-filled vessels.

But it also highlights a recent surge in narcotics coming from Colombia, a close US ally and the world’s top producer of cocaine.

The Biden administration’s top anti-narcotics officials travelled to South Florida to welcome back the ship's crew and promote the Coast Guard’s role in intercepting drugs before they reach American streets.

“We are hitting the drug traffickers where it hits them most: their pocketbooks,” said Dr Rahul Gupta, head of the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Dr Gupta said the Biden administration was seeking to increase the US government’s budget to build up the nation’s addiction treatment and reduce the supply of synthetic opioids including fentanyl, and other drugs.

But the record seizures of late by the Coast Guard, federal law enforcement and partner nations also underscores how little the flow of cocaine coming from Latin America has eased since president Richard Nixon declared war on drugs a half century ago.

Coca cultivation in Colombia in 2020 soared to 245,000 hectares, enough to produce 1,010 tonnes of cocaine, according to the White House’s latest report on harvesting trends in the Andean region.

As recently as 2014, potential production was less than half that amount. Production in Peru and Bolivia has also steadily risen.

Admiral Karl Schultz, the US Coast Guard commander, said those numbers would be even higher, and the destabilising effect on the region from transnational criminal organisations greater, if not for the US interception efforts.

“Does it matter? It absolutely matters because it kind of keeps a lid on things,” Admiral Schulz said.

His comments were echoed by Ambassador Todd Robinson, who leads the State Department’s bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs.

“It’s not just always about seizures,” said Mr Robinson, who had served as the US’s top diplomat in Guatemala and Venezuela, two major transit zones for Colombian cocaine.

“It’s also about building our partners’ capacity.”

US Customs and US Coast Guard have foiled several major attempts to smuggle drugs from Mexico and Colombia to the United States. Among the biggest was a $194 million cocaine haul in March, 2016. Courtesy: US Customs and Border Patrol

Members of the Marines stand guard in a street of southern Guayaquil, Ecuador on October 19, 2021. AFP

Soldiers stand guard outside the Guayas 1 prison on the outskirts of Guayaquil, Ecuador, on October 1, 2021. AFP

Police officers walk among packages of seized cocaine at the Pacific port of Buenaventura, Colombia. AP Photo

A police officer stands on a coca field during a manual eradication operation in Tumaco, southwestern Colombia. AP Photo

Mexican drug trafficker Joaquin Guzman Loera, aka "El Chapo" Guzman, is escorted by marines as he is presented to the press in Mexico City. AFP