US Navy destroyer USS Preble has seized 100 bales of suspected cocaine worth over $40 million from a drug-trafficking low-profile go-fast vessel in the Eastern Pacific.
A US Coast Guard (USCG) Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) team embarked aboard the destroyer recovered the 100 bales on June 2.
The suspicious vessel was first spotted by a US Navy maritime patrol aircraft before Preble was vectored in for a long-range intercept. Upon interception, Preble employed one of her embarked helicopters, assigned to the “Easy Riders” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 37, to provide over watch and ensure compliance while the embarked LEDET and small boats achieved positive control of the LPGFV.
“This interdiction and drug seizure was a big win for our Navy and Coast Guard team,” said Cmdr. Leonardo Giovannelli, USS Preble Commanding Officer. “Not only did we flex our sensors and communications suite, but our combat team was able to work across the interagency and contribute directly to a major line of operation with tangible results.”
USS Preble is deployed to the US Fourth Fleet area of operations conducting US Southern Command and Joint Interagency Task Force South’s enhanced counter drug operations missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.
On April 1, US Southern Command began enhanced counter-narcotics operations in the Western Hemisphere to disrupt the flow of drugs in support of Presidential National Security Objectives.
Numerous US agencies from the Departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security cooperated in the effort to combat transnational organized crime. The Coast Guard, US Navy, Customs and Border Protection, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with allied and international partner agencies, play a role in counter-drug operations.
