(04-23) 11:20 PDT ALAMEDA -- The U.S. Coast Guard unloaded about 20 tons of seized cocaine from a cutter today on Coast Guard Island in Alameda.
The cocaine was seized in mid-March off the coast of Panama by officials on the Coast Guard Cutter Sherman, based in Alameda, and the Hamilton, based in San Diego.
A Coast Guard patrol aircraft spotted a motor vessel, the Gatuan, on March 17 while the crew was patrolling the waters about 20 miles southwest of Isla de Coiba, Panama. Officials discovered the cocaine after searching the ship and arrested 14 crewmembers.
The bust was the largest in the Coast Guard's history. Previously, the largest seizure was in 2004, when the agency seized more than 30,000 pounds of cocaine from a ship.
SOURCE 
Previous Topic
Index
