Cocaine Seized

Two US Navy P-3 Orion crews assigned to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement missions helped apprehend two fishing vessels in September that were carrying roughly twenty-seven tons of cocaine. One P-3 spotted the Lina Maria traveling off the coast of Ecuador. The other P-3 spotted the San Jose traveling 1,500 miles southwest of Manta, Ecuador. The vessels were later intercepted by the US Coast Guard. In this year alone, the Coast Guard has seized a record 240,519 pounds of cocaine. The Orions are part of a joint agency task force.