Air and Marine Operations agents bust a shipment of cocaine worth $172 million

U.S. Navy P-3 Orion Maritime patrol aircraft

(REUTERS/Murad Sezer)
A US Navy P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft.

On February 5, US Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations agents on a P-3 Orion early-warning aircraft picked up and tracked a suspicious vessel heading north toward the US, according to a CBP press release.

The airborne agents coordinated with the US Coast Guard to intercept the suspicious vessel.

Coast Guard personnel on the scene arrested three people onboard and seized 2,300 pounds of cocaine, an amount worth more than $172 million, according to the CBP.

CBP Air and Marine Operations (AMO) crews cover a 42-million-square-mile area that includes the Pacific Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea.

Last year, they intercepted 213,000 pounds of cocaine.

drug smuggling boat helicopter

(REUTERS/LS Dan Bard/Department of National Defence/Handout)
Members of HMCS Toronto's naval boarding party board a suspected drug-smuggling vessel during an unrelated drug bust on January 17, 2014.

Traffickers have relied on seaborne shipping to move immense amounts of cocaine and other drugs to the US, using fishing vessels, fast boats, and homemade narco submarines.

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