A Coast Guard law enforcement boarding team from Miami, aboard the Royal Navy Frigate HMS Iron Duke, seized an estimated $55 million worth of cocaine from a go-fast vessel off the coast of Venezuela, Thursday.
While on routine patrol in the Caribbean Sea, Iron Duke crew members located a suspicious go-fast vessel and launched an embarked Lynx helicopter crew to investigate after witnessing the go-fast crew throwing packages overboard. The Iron Duke also launched a smallboat with the Coast Guard law enforcement team and conducted an at sea boarding. Crews boarded the vessel, detained four men and recovered the 36 bales of cocaine thrown overboard.
"This is an outstanding example of the partnership between the U.S. and our regional and NATO colleagues to stem the flow of illegal narcotics to Europe and North America," said Capt. Steven A. Banks, chief of Law Enforcement at District Seven.
Coast Guard Law Enforcement Team 406 is based in Miami at the Tactical Law Enforcement Team South.