The U.S. Coast Guard credits a CFB Esquimalt-based Canadian naval ship with helping offload $44.2 million worth of cocaine in San Diego, Thursday (Sept. 12) morning.
The crew aboard HMCS Yellowknife and a U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment team intercepted more than 3,100 pounds of cocaine approximately 430 miles southwest of Acapulco, Mexico, Sept. 5, according to a coast guard news release.
Capt. Tim Lavier, Eleventh Coast Guard District chief of response thanked the crew of the Yellownkife for “dedicated service.”
“Deploying a coast guard law enforcement team aboard a Canadian navy ship in the eastern pacific is a significant showcase of the strong relationship we have built with our Canadian partners,” Lavier said in the news release.
The interdictions relate to Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces investigations that aim to identify, disrupt and dismantle high-level criminal organizations. Interceptions – including the actual boardings – are led and conducted by members of the U.S. Coast Guard.
“I would like to thank our crew onboard HMCS Yellowknife and our partners with the U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment team, who worked together to support the interdiction of 3,100 lbs. of cocaine,” said Lt. Cmdr. Tyson Babcock, commanding officer HMCS Yellowknife. “We are proud to contribute to the multinational efforts to address illegal trafficking through Operation CARIBBE, Canada’s contribution to U.S.-led enhanced counternarcotics operations under Joint Interagency Task Force South, to impede the flow of illicit drugs and improve the safety and security of North America, the Caribbean and South America.
The Yellowknife is one of 12 Canadian maritime coastal defence vessels and based in Esquimalt.
