Politics & Government

U.S. Coast Guard Brings Major Drug Seizure Into St. Petersburg Port

The U.S. Coast Guard seized seven tons of drugs worth $180 million from a pair of 'drug subs.' The submersibles elude capture by dropping to the ocean floor.

ST. PETERSBURG — A major drug seizure, with an estimated wholesale value of $180 million, was brought into the city's port Friday by the U.S. Coast Guard, partnering with several law enforcement agencies.

The seizure from a pair of so-called "drug subs" totalled seven tons of cocaine and marijuana, intercepted in the western Caribbean.

According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the crew of the Cutter Mohawk, based in Key West, captured a drug smuggling, self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) vessel, commonly referred to as a drug sub. They required support from air surveillance and a dive team after the subs were initially spotted.

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Built in the jungles and remote areas of South America, the typical submersible is less than 100 feet in length, with four to five crew members, and carries up to 10 metric tons of illicit cargo for distances up to 5,000 miles.

Drug traffickers design the vessels to be difficult to spot and rapidly sink when they detect law enforcement, thereby making capture difficult.

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The crew of the Mohawk intercepted two "drug subs" in two weeks.

The captures are the third Coast Guard interdiction of self-propelled drug subs in the Caribbean. The Coast Guard’s first interdiction of a drug smuggling submarine in the Western Caribbean Sea was on July 13.

The crew of a maritime patrol aircraft deployed in support of Joint Interagency Task Force South operations in the Caribbean first spotted the suspicious vessel and notified the Mohawk crew of the location.

The Mohawk-based Coast Guard helicopter crew and pursuit boat crew were able to intercept the sub, detain the smugglers and seize the illegal drug shipment.

The crew members of the Coast Guard Cutter Cypress commenced searching for the sunken sub Oct. 17.

Coast Guard crews and the FBI Laboratory's Technical Dive Team, located at Quantico, Va., conducted multiple searches. The sub was located by the dive crew Oct. 19.

"The interdiction of a third SPSS in the Caribbean brings to a close an extremely successful fiscal year for the Coast Guard here in Southeast U.S. and Caribbean,” said Rear Adm. Bill Baumgartner, commander of the 7th Coast Guard District.

"This is the second self-propelled semi-submersibles case for this crew, and I am extremely proud we were able to stop millions of dollars of cocaine from reaching the streets of America," said Cmdr. Mark Fedor, Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk's commanding officer.

The U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, Customs and Border Protection work together to conduct drug-smuggling patrols in the Caribbean.


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