U.S. Coast Guard Delivers 17 Tonnes of Cocaine to San Diego

 

On Thursday, the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Waesche offloaded about 17 tonnes of cocaine to a pier in San Diego, a haul worth a combined $275 million wholesale in the U.S.  

From December through February, Waesche was operating in the Eastern Pacific in the drug-trafficking zones off southern Mexico and Central America. They carried out 11 separate interdictions, despite setbacks, including the loss of a member of the crew earlier this month.    

"The Waesche crew faced numerous challenges during this patrol, overcoming the hardest adversities and still had 11 successful drug interdictions," said Capt. Tyson Scofield, the commanding officer.. "Their dedication, strength of character, and resilience ensured the success of our mission, preventing over $275 million worth of illicit narcotics from reaching the United States."

The Coast Guard Cutter Waesche is one of four Legend-class national security cutters homeported in Alameda, California. The Coast Guard's largest cutters are a frequent presence in the Eastern Pacific trafficking zone, where their endurance, capacity and speed are valued in the hunt for smugglers. Many agencies and international partners contribute to the counternarcotics effort in the region, but the Coast Guard conducts all of the law-enforcement boardings. 

Waesche's seizures will help to limit the supply of cocaine for all of the consumer markets served by South American suppliers, including more lucrative destinations in Europe - a frequent end point for boat-borne shipments in the Eastern Pacific, thanks to transshipment through Central American container terminals. At current pricing, the 17-tonne haul would be worth about $600 million in Western Europe - far more than what it would fetch in America.

"For many traffickers, the European market is now their priority. The kilogram they might sell for $3,000 to the Mexicans [Mexican cartels, for U.S. delivery] goes for more than 10 times that on the wholesale market in Europe," wrote researchers for Insight Crime in 2021.