Posted on 07/27/2012 6:13:07 AM PDT by BenLurkin
SAN PEDRO [Prounounced 'San Pee-droe'](CBS) — Approximately 8,500 pounds of marijuana was discovered about 150 miles west of Los Angeles and now it’s in the hands of U.S. Coast Guard officials.
On Thursday, it took teams of officers in San Pedro to unload the 340 bales seized off the San Francisco-based Coast Guard Cutter Aspen. The four tons of pot is worth nearly $8 million dollars.
“It’s the most that’s been seized off the California coastline historically and again that’s because we’re getting better at interdicting it. We’re pushing it further and further offshore to make the smugglers work harder and harder,” Capt. Jim Jenkins, of the U.S. Coast Guard said told CBS2/KCAL9 reporter Amanda Burden.
The marijuana bust happened Wednesday during a routine patrol on the water. Officers noticed a suspicious boat and began to investigate.
“There was a short chase. When the pursuit boat caught up to the small vessel, they boarded it and at that time, they found six individuals on-board, as well as marijuana on-board, “ Jenkins said.
The marijuana was packed in a 33-foot panga boat, onboard were six suspects who are now in custody.
It’s unclear where the suspects are from and where they were going, but Jenkins says they were putting their own lives at risk in this small vessel.
The small boats, known as pangas, are popular among smugglers for moving loads of marijuana and undocumented immigrants from the U.S.-Mexico border, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
This incident was one of 56 marijuana seizures since last October and is four times the amount seized in the same area last year.
The street value of the 50 tons of marijuana taken in the last seven months is about $90 million dollars, according to law enforcement officials.
“It’s not just the street value that matters, it’s keeping the drugs off the street and keeping the proceeds from funding further criminal activity by the drug trafficking organizations, “ Jenkins said.
The six suspects are now under custody with the Department of Homeland Security. The marijuana will be held at a holding facility and eventually be destroyed.
“The marijuana will be held at a holding facility and eventually be destroyed.”
http://www.johnspeedie.com/healy/right.wav
Right. So then they destroy it.
Later, they'll cry about their budget.
Hint: Don't burn up the 90 million dollars.
:: teams of officers in San Pedro to unload the 340 bales seized...The marijuana will be held at a holding facility and eventually be destroyed. ::
All 300 bales of it!
Since all US (state and federal) government intercepts less than 1% of the drugs coming into this country (by their own admission), it is really hard to see what the point of all this is, besides the obvious one of job security.
On the address label of the giant pot bundle was “White House West Wing”.
“It’s the most that’s been seized off the California coastline historically and again that’s because we’re getting better at interdicting it.
Of course, if the seizures are getting larger and larger, that means that trafficked volumes are going up, not down, which means the drug war is being lost, not won. Unless of course the success of the drug war is measured by dollars spent, people incarcerated, cars searched, no-knocks executed (and for that matter people including drug dealers and innocents both also executed during them), and of course, technologies and procedures standardized to institute police-state methods such as drug-sniffing dog searches of detained vehicles "which are not legally searches" (- the Courts) and so forth. By that standard, the drug war has been a roaring success. But drugs are still available and people still do them. Which will always be the case no matter what government agents do.
Oh, and I forgot, which also enrich the criminal element by providing a lucrative black market in which to make millions or billions of dollars of profit, especially including criminal elements like Al Qaeda, which derives more than a little income from the heroin trade, and especially heroin prohibition.
Party on Yerba Buena Island this weekend...
I’ve heard that Willie Nelson gets to use a percentage against his back taxes.
Mwah...dude!
In a related story a huge shipment of Doritos was just delivered to the Coast Guard.
Yep, that’s a lot of pot – but to the distributors it’s just the cost of doing business. Like a tax.
The choom brothers won’t like this.
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