About 25 cars. Close to six male elephants. 16 million pennies.
All of these things weigh about 50 tons. So does how much marijuana the Coast Guard has confiscated so far this fiscal year.
Buoy tender Aspen made the bust that pushed the Coast Guard over the 50 ton drug seizure mark for fiscal 2012. Coast Guard photo.
An 8,500-pound bust on Wednesday by buoy tender Aspen pushed the Coast Guard over this milestone for pot confiscated in the Southern California and Pacific Southwest border region in fiscal 2012, according to a Coast Guard press release. Fifty tons of pot has an estimated street value of $90.7 million, the release said.
The 50-tons came from 56 seizures of drug-carrying boats or abandoned loads since October 1, 2011. It is four times as much as was seized in the same area during all of fiscal 2011, according to the release.
“Stopping these drugs from reaching our streets is a great accomplishment, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg with respect to the impact on the drug trafficking organizations,” Capt. James Jenkins, commander of the Coast Guard’s Los Angeles/Long Beach Sector, said . “The money from marijuana trafficking fuels a wider cycle of drug smuggling, crime and violence. We need to do everything possible to stop these destructive, deadly organizations. The more loads we interdict, the less money is available to feed further criminal activity.”
2 Comments
Wow, a bouy tender catches drug smugglers. So, why do we have to build National Security Cutters at $600,000,000 each ?
What’s a bouy tender cost ? Maybe 1/10 th of that ? Coast Guard can sure stretch a dollar better than other military branches.
That’s ridiculous, man. Do you know what the Coast Guard’s annual budget is? Do you know the average age of a Coast Guard vessel? Look it up, then look at the same stats for the Navy and tell me the Coast Guard can’t use new equipment.