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| News Release |
Date: Oct. 28, 2008 Contact: |
| Coast Guard cutter returns to Key West with more than 5,000 pounds of Cocaine |
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The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Thetis offload 5,511-pounds of cocaine Monday, which was seized during their Eastern Pacific patrol. U.S. Coast Guard photo. KEY WEST, Fla. - The Coast Guard Cutter Thetis returned home Monday after a 36-day law enforcement patrol in the Eastern Pacific highlighted with a 5,511-pound cocaine seizure. The culmination of the patrol came in early October when the crew intercepted the motor vessel Colon X a 75-foot Sierra Leone-registered tug boat. With the cooperation of the Sierra Leone government, a Coast Guard boarding team boarded and searched the vessel, uncovering 5,511-pounds of cocaine in a hidden compartment. One Colombian national was transferred into federal custody for drug smuggling in violation of the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act. The crew sailed through the Panama Canal to patrol the Eastern Pacific during the months of September and October. Transiting the canal is a unique opportunity and the crew enjoyed entering the "Order of the Ditch." The Thetis crew also continued the maritime tradition of crossing the equator to welcome the crew into the "Ancient Order of the Deep," earning them the honorable title of "Shellback." The cutter Thetis is a 270-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Key West
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