ST. PETERSBURG – The crew of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Resolute offloaded nearly 12,600 pounds of cocaine, worth an estimated $93.2 million, in their homeport of St. Petersburg, Thursday, following a 59-day patrol in the Eastern Pacific.
Resolute deployed in support of Joint Interagency Task Force-South (JIATF-South), a U.S. Department of Defense command that leverages the capabilities of U.S. Intelligence and Law Enforcement agencies, Allies and Partner Nations to detect, monitor, and support interdiction of illicit narcotics movements in the air and maritime domains throughout the Western hemisphere. During their patrol, Resolute’s crew worked to detect, deter, and intercept smuggling of illegal narcotics into the United States.
Resolute spent several weeks as the only U.S. Coast Guard cutter in the Eastern Pacific, playing a critical role in maintaining maritime domain awareness and operational coverage across a vast area, spanning more than 1 million square miles. Halfway through patrol, Resolute was joined by the cutters Escanaba, Tahoma, and Hamilton, providing broad, coordinated coverage across the major drug-smuggling vectors running from Ecuador toward the United States…