The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter William Trump (WPC-1111) offloaded approximately 1,100 pounds of marijuana, Wednesday, at Sector San Juan.
The seized drug shipment is estimated to have a wholesale value of more than $1.3 million, according to the Coast Guard news release.
The interdiction was a result of an international, multi-agency law enforcement collaboration in support of Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos, Operation Unified Resolve, Operation Caribbean Guard and Campaign Martillo, and member of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area sponsored Caribbean Corridor Strike Force.
“Through this time of uncertainty, Coast Guard cutter crews remain vigilant and on watch to safe guard the American people from all maritime threats,” said Lt. Johnston Ariail, the commanding officer of William Trump. “This includes preventing drug smugglers from attempting to infiltrate our borders by capitalizing on the current pandemic.”
The seizure occurred during a patrol, when William Trump crew sighted a suspect go-fast vessel with two people aboard. As the cutter’s small boat crew approached the suspect vessel, they observed multiple bales of suspected contraband being jettisoned from the go-fast.
The crew of the William Trump recovered 37 bales and 12 individual packages, which tested positive for marijuana. The cutter’s crew offloaded the contraband in coordination with Customs and Border Protection officers, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, DEA and CCSF special agents in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The cutter William Trump is a 154-foot fast response cutter home ported in Key West, Florida. It is named, not for a member of the president’s family, but for William Francis Trump, who served aboard a Landing Craft Infantry vessel during four amphibious assaults during World War II. His vessel, USS LCI-90, participated in the invasion of French North Africa, Sicily and Anzio in 1943, and in the Invasion of Normandy in 1944. The ship was commissioned in 2014.
