$400 million of siezed narcotics offloaded in South Florida

PORT EVERGLADES (FOX 13) - Almost 14 tons of drugs were seized by the U.S. Coast Guard as suspected smugglers tried to bring their haul into South Florida Tuesday.

Nearly 25,000 pounds of cocaine and 2,600 pounds of marijuana were found onboard 17 boats stopped by the USCG, WSVN 7News Miami reports.

The drugs seized by the crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Legare has a street value of about $400 million.

Aerial views of the haul showed some of the suspected smugglers sitting on the deck with officers watching closely. 

Teams of other officers stacked and counted the bundles of narcotics they had seized. 

Seaman Hazarmabet Martinez told 7News about the dangers of what they do overseas.

“As far as a lot of these people, you never know what you’re going to encounter, so that adds to the factors, as well as drug smuggling,” he said. “Some of those boats were specifically used for drug smuggling, so it makes it hard for us to get inside those boats, as well as regressing out of those boats. All that adds to the excitement and it adds to the dangers as well.”

The USCG crew will be in South Florida on a three-day leave before returning to Virginia.