JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – NAS Jacksonville-based plane found a semi-submersible off the coastline of El Salvador that was found to be carrying 8 tons of cocaine.
On July 18, Navy, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office and U.S. Coast Guard personnel were involved in intercepting the boat carrying 16,870 pounds of cocaine hundreds of miles off the coast in international waters.
A CBP crew aboard the P-3 aircraft then detected a go-fast vessel in the area and alerted a Coast Guard cutter to intercept the vessel and it was boarded after a helicopter fired warning shots.
Other Coast Guard personnel aboard a rigid-hulled inflatable boat boarded the semi-submersible and detained four people.
Law enforcement partners recovered 274 bales of cocaine weighing more than eight tons packed inside the vessel. The estimated street value of the drugs is hundreds of millions of dollars.