A striking video shows the US Coast Guard arresting a ship carrying cocaine: NPR



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Members of the crew of the US Coast Guard Cutter Munro board a semi-submersible suspected of carrying drugs on June 18 while operating in the international waters of the United States. East of the Pacific Ocean.

US Coast Guard


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US Coast Guard

Members of the crew of the US Coast Guard Cutter Munro board a semi-submersible suspected of carrying drugs on June 18 while operating in the international waters of the United States. East of the Pacific Ocean.

US Coast Guard

A high-speed pursuit involving an alleged narco-submarine in the eastern Pacific Ocean provides insight into the potential danger of US Coast Guard operations in the fight against drug trafficking.

The one – minute dramatic video was recorded by a member of the Coast Guard on June 18, with a helmet camera. It was made public on Thursday.

"Stop your boat!" The voice of a Coast Guard member shouting in Spanish can be heard many times.

But the self-propelled semi-submersible is advancing rapidly in the international waters of the Pacific. "It's going to be difficult," the man said.

The Munro cutter from the US Coast Guard is getting closer to the ship and a person can board and hammer the ship's hatch. An alleged smuggler of drugs emerges, hands in the air.

It is there that the video stops.

According to the Washington Post, the craft would hold more than 17,000 pounds of cocaine, worth about $ 232 million.

These ships are built to evade detection while holding large amounts of illegal imports, Coast Guard said in a description accompanying the video.

"They are like the white whale," Lieutenant Cmdr. Stephen Brickey told the newspaper. "They are rather rare.For us, having one is an important event."

Indeed, smugglers will often open a valve and intentionally sink their ships to prevent seizures, thus dispersing evidence of alleged crimes in the ocean. Brickey said to the To post law enforcement often only has one or two minutes to determine if a ship they are boarding is heading towards the bottom of the ocean.

A Coast Guard aircraft initially spotted the semi-submersible, then two boats sneaked in, CNN reported. He added that the five people on board the seized ship were handed over to the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

Vice President Pence witnessed Thursday a landing at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, involving 39,000 pounds of cocaine and 933 pounds of marijuana, seized from alleged drug traffickers, including cocaine from the semi-submersible .

These drugs – worth about $ 569 million – were seized by three Coast Guard cutters between May and July.

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