That’s a lot of cocaine: Coast Guard offloads more than 17 tons, worth at least $411M
The haul from stopping 21 suspected drug-smuggling boats — 34,780 pounds of cocaine — was brought ashore from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Forward on Tuesday morning at Port Everglades.
The Coast Guard estimated the cocaine’s wholesale value at $466 million.
But 34,780 pounds is 15,809.1 kilos. At Miami street prices for a whole kilo that the DEA gave to the Sun-Sentinel in 2017, $26,000 to $28,000 per kilo, that’s a street value of $411,036,600 to $442,652,000.
The breakup value, if that much cocaine is sold on the street at $50 to $80 per gram, would be $790,455,000 to $1,264,728,000.
Six Coast Guard Cutters — the Forward, the Hamilton, the Campbell, the Alert, the Venturous and the Confidence — made the 21 boat stops off the coasts of Mexico, Central and South America.
This story was originally published February 5, 2019 at 2:25 PM.
