3018
Views

Coast Guard Cutter Delivers 13 Tonnes of Cocaine to Port Everglades

USCG
Courtesy USCG

Published May 29, 2025 5:07 PM by The Maritime Executive


The crew of the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Thetis have offloaded nearly 30,000 pounds of cocaine onto the dock at Port Everglades, Florida, the product of four different interdictions in the Eastern Pacific. Unusually, the majority of the drugs were found floating abandoned in the water, with no smugglers in sight. 

"I could not be more proud of this crew and what they accomplished this patrol," said Cmdr. Ryan Kelley, commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Thetis. "The Coast Guard is in the business of saving lives, and every kilogram of these drugs kept off our streets represents lives saved."

The interdictions all occurred earlier this month. On May 3, a maritime patrol aircraft spotted two drug-running boats about 170 miles off the western coast of Mexico. On capture, the crew found 4,600 pounds of cocaine on board the two vessels. On the 5th, the crew found 10,000 pounds of unattended cocaine floating in the water, about 500 miles southwest of Colima, Mexico. All of the bales were recovered. 

On the 6th, Thetis' helicopter aircrew spotted two smuggling boats throwing bales over the side at a position about 575 miles southwest of Acapulco. The suspects escaped in an incoming storm, but the Thetis' crew found three different "bale fields" with a combined total of nearly 15,000 pounds of cocaine. In the final interdiction, on May 10, Thetis' crew found another 4,000 pounds of cocaine floating unattended at a position about 660 miles south of Acapulco. 

In addition to the 28,500 pounds of cocaine offloaded in Port Everglades this week, Thetis' crew transferred another 4,600 pounds to Ecuadorian law enforcement officials for use as evidence in a local criminal proceeding. 

The medium-endurance cutter Thetis (WMEC-910) was commissioned in 1989, and like the rest of her class she is due for replacement when the long-awaited Offshore Patrol Cutter (OPC) begins to deliver. Thetis is not currently on the list for an engine-replacement service life extension program (SLEP), which is currently under way for her sister ships in the Famous-class.