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USS Gettysburg Seizes More Than $190 Million in Drug Shipments
Story Number: NNS051221-11
Release Date: 12/21/2005 12:30:00 PM
From USS Gettysburg Public Affairs
USS GETTYSBURG, At sea (NNS) -- USS Gettysburg’s (CG 64) crew and embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) seized 244 bales of suspected illegal narcotics in mid-December in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The ship’s efforts in this, the largest of three seizures over the course of two weeks, netted an estimated 10 metric tons of cocaine and seven suspected drug traffickers.
At $19,000 per kilogram, this seizure could be valued at $190 million wholesale value, and as much as six times that in street value.
The ship was patrolling the eastern Pacific Ocean when its embarked SH-60B helicopter with Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron (Light) (HSL) 46 Detachment 5, and the LEDET, located the suspect vessel.
As the boarding team approached the vessel, the master jumped over the side in an effort to avoid capture. Using the Gettysburg’s Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB), the master was quickly plucked from the water and detained by the LEDET.
Earlier in the month, the ship seized approximately two tons of cocaine and detained six suspected traffickers while also operating in the eastern Pacific. In the Caribbean, the ship seized another 44 bales that had been dumped over the side by another suspected drug-trafficking vessel.
This brings the total seizures for the ship’s deployment so far to an estimated 15 metric tons.
USS Gettysburg is conducting Counter Narco-Terrorism operations in the Western Hemisphere as part of a Joint Inter-Agency Task Force. The ship is a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser homeported in Mayport, Fla., along with HSL-46 detachment.
For more information on USS Gettysburg, go to www.gettysburg.navy.mil/.
For related news, visit the Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command Navy NewsStand page at www.news.navy.mil/local/cusns/.
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