PORTSMOUTH, Va. — The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa is back home in Portsmouth after a 74-day deployment that included what authorities are calling a major disruption of the international cocaine trade.
Family members and supporters welcomed the crew back to Hampton Roads on Saturday, marking the end of a patrol in the Eastern Pacific Ocean where sailors played a direct role in stopping large-scale drug shipments bound for the United States.
On Thursday at Coast Guard Base Miami Beach, the Tampa’s crew offloaded approximately 3,825 pounds of cocaine, worth more than $28.7 million. Officials say that amount of cocaine is enough to kill more than 1.4 million people…