Caribbean Sea: USS Pinckney seizes $4.5 million in cocaine

US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG 91) with embarked US Coast Guard (USCG) Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) team seized over 120 kilograms of suspected cocaine in the Caribbean Sea on July 24.

The cocaine recovered has an estimated wholesale value of over $4.5 million, according to the navy.

While on routine patrol, approximately 200 nautical miles southwest of Jamaica, a helicopter assigned to the “Wolf Pack” of Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 75 located the vessel and Pinckney soon arrived on the scene. 

After coordination with the Government of Colombia and the Colombian Navy, the vessel was searched and six suspected drug smugglers detained. The mariners are now in the Government of Colombia custody.

Upon examination, Pinckney personnel determined one detainee required medical assistance and a medevac was necessary for patient survival. The patient was transported for further medical treatment.  

USS Pinckney is deployed to the U.S. Fourth Fleet area of operations conducting U.S Southern Command and Joint Interagency Task Force South’s enhanced counter drug operations missions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

On April 1, U.S. Southern Command began enhanced counter-narcotics operations in the Western Hemisphere to disrupt the flow of drugs in support of Presidential National Security Objectives.