A U.S. Coast Guard vessel on Thursday offloaded more than 30 metric tons of cocaine and marijuana reportedly worth over $1 billion that was seized at sea during a months-long deployment off the coast of South America. The haul of illegal narcotics brought home by the U.S. Coast Guard cutter James was one of the biggest in recent memory, a reflection of increasingly sophisticated U.S. arsenal that includes powerful drones and special infrared cameras that can detect heat from small cocaine-laden vessels. The Biden administration's top anti-narcotics officials traveled to South Florida to welcome back the vessel's crew and tout the Coast Guard's role interdicting drugs before they reach American streets.
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U.S. Coast Guard offloads $1 billion worth of narcotics