Article: Coast Guard Concerned About Surge in Drug Trafficking Near U.S.

21 March 2001

Article: Coast Guard Concerned About Surge in Drug Trafficking Near U.S.

Says 12,000 kilos of cocaine seized recently

Washington -- The U.S. Coast Guard has expressed concern about what it says is an "unprecedented surge" of maritime drug trafficking off the Pacific and Atlantic coasts of the United States.

The Coast Guard said that during a five-day period in February 2001, some 12,000 kilos of cocaine were seized at sea with the help of other U.S. law enforcement agencies and drug-fighting agencies of other nations.

A Coast Guard spokesman said March 21 that in fiscal year 2000, the Coast Guard seized a record 55,000 kilos of cocaine, with 82 percent of that amount interdicted in the Pacific region east of Hawaii along the North American and South American coastlines. If the trend continues, seizures for fiscal 2001 will break last year's record, he said.

This year, the Coast Guard said it has encountered more smugglers, who are using more maritime trafficking routes. The Coast Guard estimates that over 90 percent of the drugs smuggled into the United States enters via the sea.

As examples of the flurry of recent drug interdictions, the Coast Guard said that it intercepted and recovered 1800 kilos of cocaine about 13 kilometers north of San Juan, Puerto Rico, on February 25. The day before, the Coast Guard recovered 550 kilos of cocaine dumped by a smuggler 180 kilometers northeast of Puerto Rico.

Coast Guard Chief of Law Enforcement Joseph Conroy said the United States is "now fighting a two-ocean drug war and I am concerned about the breadth of trafficking events all around our nation's borders."

Conroy said the Coast Guard has directed its commanders to continue their ongoing patrol and interdiction efforts with all available resources, but also to investigate "this alarming expansion of drug smuggling activity so we can map out effective plans to counter the threat and keep it off our streets."