The Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Navy have made what they call "one of the largest drug offloads" in its history.


The operation at Port Everglades filled most of the flight deck of the 418-foot Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton with more than three dozen pallets stacked with cocaine, seized during 27 vessel interdictions and five drug bale recovery operations in the eastern Pacific.



There is so much cocaine, about 53,000 pounds, that a crane was required.

"Today we'll be offloading 53,000 pounds. That's equivalent to about 24,000 kilograms of cocaine ... with an estimated wholesale value of $715 million. That's probably equivalent to 2-plus billion on the streets of America," said Vice Adm. Karl Schultz, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area.

About 100 people were arrested and turned over to federal authorities.

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