In 2016, the Coast Guard seized a record 45,000 pounds of cocaine with an estimated value of $6 billion, intercepted almost 7,000 people trying to enter the US illegally, and stopped a record-breaking six narco submarines.
ADVERTISEMENT
Coast Guard officials say they're struggling to keep up with the drugs flowing to the US
"We are besieged in the region because of a lack of resources. Drug traffickers simply have more boats and crafts than we have ships and planes to catch them."
US Coast Guardsmen board a narco sub as part of a drug seizure in early September 2016.
Coast Guard officials told The New York Times this week that their seizures helped bring about the extradition of almost 75% of Colombian cartel leaders and contributed to the recapture of Mexican kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in January last year.
Despite those accomplishments, however, Coast Guard officials are again warning that their expanded responsibilities and increased maritime traffic have left them overburdened — a condition likely to be exacerbated by Trump administration plans to cut the service's funding.
Currently, the Coast Guard has been able to pick up much of the drug flows that have shifted offshore in response to increased enforcement along the US's land borders. At-sea interdictions typically capture greater volumes of drugs with higher purity levels. Oceangoing smugglers are also more vulnerable to law enforcement.
ADVERTISEMENT
Zukunft is not the first Coast Guard official to sound alarm about the service's struggles to keep up with the volume of illicit traffic plying the US's approaches.
In February, Vice Adm. Charles Ray, Coast Guard deputy commandant for operations, told the House Homeland Security Committee that the service was observing more smuggling operations than it could stop.
JOIN OUR PULSE COMMUNITY!
ADVERTISEMENT
Eyewitness? Submit your stories now via social or:
Email: eyewitness@pulse.ng
ADVERTISEMENT