The Trump administration held a press conference Wednesday at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale after the U.S. Coast Guard reported offloading cargo that was part of more than $509 million worth of cocaine and marijuana seized in 13 maritime interceptions.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said about 45,000 pounds of “pure” cocaine and 38,000 pounds of marijuana were in the illegal shipments linked to two Mexican drug cartels: the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known in Spanish as the “Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generación,” or CJNG, and Sinaloa.
USCG Vice Adm. Nathan Moore, commander of the Atlantic region, said the patrol boats James and Mohawk were involved in the seizure of cocaine and marijuana and the arrest of suspects. He has a message for the cartels: “We own the sea; you don’t. We will find you! We will chase you! We will stop you!”
Captain Thomas Rodzewicz, commanding officer of the James, said his crew “covered an area the size of the continental United States,” in anti-drug patrols that he compared to searching for “a needle in a haystack.”
During the 56 days of patrols, Rodzewic said, the James “team of teams,” including pilots, drone operators and intelligence officers, intercepted 11 drug-smuggling vessels and arrested 34 suspected drug traffickers.
“In all my years working on this important mission, I have never seen such significant results in such a short period of time,” said Rodzewicz, who graduated from the USCG Academy in 2003.
Lt. Gen. Evan Pettus, deputy commander of U.S. Southern Command, said the group’s efforts against drug cartels involved not only intelligence from prosecutors and the FBI but also cooperation from representatives of 21 “partner nations.”
Bondi said the joint operation has resulted in 11 separate cases being prosecuted in the Middle District of Florida, but she did not disclose any information about the suspects beyond their connection to two Mexican drug cartels.
“This is a major blow to their financial operations and their efforts to distribute drugs across our country,” Bondi said. “This is an example of an intelligence-led, prosecutorial-led approach to stopping these criminal enterprises in their tracks.”