Coast Guard offloaded thousands of pounds of weed and cocaine. Here’s what it’s worth.
The Coast Guard offloaded 26,000 pounds of cocaine and 1,500 pounds of marijuana Thursday morning at Port Everglades, the result of more than a dozen interdictions in the waters off the coast of Mexico and Central and South America from March until May.
“Three-hundred fifty million dollars of street value that’s not going to go to some of the most violent criminals in the world in this hemisphere. Do let me just say thank you first to the team of [the cutter] Hamilton,” said Kevin McAleenan, acting secretary of Homeland Security, with the drugs in the background at the Fort Lauderdale port.
A little math and the U.S. cocaine market says McAleenan’s estimation of the street value falls well short of what the drugs are actually worth.
The 26,000 pounds of cocaine equals 11,818.18 kilograms (2.2 pounds per kilogram). At a street value of $350,000,000, that would be $29,615.39 per kilo or $29.62 per gram.
The only place in the United States you can get cocaine for $29.62 per gram is Puerto Rico. The DEA Miami office’s Intelligence Chief told the South Florida Sun Sentinel in 2017 that Miami street prices are $50 to $80 per gram.
At $50 per gram, a kilo is worth $50,000 and 11,818.18 kilos would be worth $590,909,000. At $80 per gram, a kilo is worth $80,000 and 11,818.18 kilos would be worth $945,454,400.
At any rate, the offload was significant, said Capt. Mark Gordon, commanding officer of the Hamilton.
“The crew of Hamilton has shown the utmost commitment and dedication to the Coast Guard and to the United States over the course of the last three months,” Gordon said. “It is incredibly difficult for our crew to be separated from family and loved ones for such an extended period of time, but their perseverance and enthusiasm to conducting this mission was fundamental to our success. Without their determination these criminal organizations would continue to spread fear and violence throughout the Americas.”
Here is a breakdown of how the crew of the Hamilton was able to offload thousands of pounds of drugs:
▪ The cutter Hamilton handled four cases and seized about 1,400 pounds of marijuana and about 9,000 pounds of cocaine.
▪ The Coast Guard Cutter Resolute also handled four cases, seizing approximately 7,550 pounds of cocaine.
▪ Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Whitehorse with a U.S. Coast Guard law enforcement detachment aboard interdicted two suspected smuggling boats and seized more than 2,000 pounds of cocaine.
▪ Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Yellowknife, also with a Coast Guard law enforcement detachment aboard, handled one interdiction, seizing more than 50 pounds of marijuana.
▪ The Coast Guard Cutter Mohawk was responsible for five cases, seizing nearly 8,600 pounds of cocaine.
This story was originally published June 6, 2019 at 8:45 PM.
