US Coast Guard Recovers 75 Pounds of Cocaine Floating in Gulf of Mexico Off Florida

Florida, July 9: The United States Coast Guard on Saturday recovered 75 pounds of cocaine floating in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Florida. The seizure came after a good samaritan alerted the authorities of a packed consignment of cocaine floating in the waters. The banned substance was handed over to the personnel of Customs and Border Protection and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency.

The narcotic consignment was floating south of Pensacola in the evening, when it was spotted by the good samaritan. The authorities seized it safely before the night.

The cocaine recovery comes a couple of months after the US Coast Guard seized 13 tonnes of narcotic substances from the American naval waters. While some amount of the drugs were seized in April in abandoned state, others were recovered from pirates arrested for breaching the water territory.

Out of the 13 tonnes seized, 12 were of cocaine, whereas 1 tonne of Marijuana was found.

Marijuana and cocaine, despite being banned for mass consumption in most states of America, has been illegally trafficked to the nation from Latin America due to the growing demand. The top cocaine exporters are Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, whereas, the peddlers of Mexico lead in the smuggling of heroin - another banned substance which has lately seen a surge in demand among US youths.

Most of the illicit drugs smuggled to the US is trafficked using the shared water territory. The Coast Guard, earlier in the year, said it is strengthening mechanism to completely shutdown the export of narcotics on US soil.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 09, 2018 11:15 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).