From gCaptain:
USS Gabrielle Giffords Catches Drug Smuggling Vessel Carrying Over $100 Million of Cocaine
The littoral combat ship USS Gabrielle Giffords has seized suspected cocaine worth more than $100 million from a low-profile drug smuggling vessel in the Pacific Ocean, the Navy said over the weekend.
USS Gabrielle Giffords (LCS 10) was embarked with a U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment when it intercepted the low-profile vessel suspected of smuggling narcotics on December 5. A search of the vessel recovered approximately 134 bales containing an estimated 2,810 kilos of suspected cocaine. Three suspected drug traffickers were also detained.
The Navy estimated the value of the cocaine at $106 million wholesale.
There is a photo of the two craft:
The smugglers are getting very clever in the last ten years or so. Their boats are semi-submersable. Built very cheaply but with sophisticated engineering. Designed as single-use craft. Not very fast but fuel efficient and stealthy - too low a profile to be seen on most radar screens. I would hate to be in a storm in one though...
Leave a comment