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The U.S. Coast Guard recently unveiled some new high-tech, high-speed boats and already they’re showing spoils. The coast guard cutters Charles Sexton and Paul Clark last week intercepted two drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean and seized about $3 million worth of pot and cocaine. The drugs will be offloaded today the Coast Guard’s Miami Beach station.
See also: Coast Guard Offloads $110 Million of Seized Cocaine in Miami Beach
The Clark and the Sexton are both 154-foot fast response cutters with the former entering services just this past March and the latter introduced in August 2013. The boats can reach speeds of over 28-plus knots, and are armed with remotely operated 25-mm chain guns and four crew-served .50-caliber machine guns.
On the night of May 3, the Sexton spotted a go-fast boat in the Caribbean. The smuggling crew started dumping its cargo into the water. The smugglers attempted to flee but were stopped by the Sexton’s small boat crew.
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Five men aboard the boat were taken into custody and 1,895 pounds of marijuana and 35 kilograms of cocaine were seized. The combined street value of the drugs is estimated to be around $2.8 million.
The night before on May 2, the Clark intercepted another go-fast boat off the coast of Haiti. The smuggler abandoned the boat, but 220 pounds of marijuana were recovered. It had a value of $190,000.
All in all, that’s a $3 million booty for the two boats.
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