Florida-based Coast Guard crew busts submarine carrying over $165 million worth of cocaine

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - A Florida-based Coast Guard crew busted a submarine carrying over $165 million worth of cocaine.

The U.S. Coast Guard said that the Jacksonville-based Cutter Valiant crew intercepted a drug-laden, 40-foot submarine in the eastern Pacific while on patrol.

They said that the crew was completing their routine patrol in the eastern Pacific when a patrol aircraft detected a submarine in international waters carrying about 12,000 pounds of cocaine. The Coast Guard Cutter Valiant crew was diverted to interdict the submarine. 

Two small boats were reportedly launched and the submarine was intercepted by the early morning. Four suspected drug smugglers were apprehended.

"There are no words to describe the feeling Valiant crew is experiencing right now," said Cmdr. Matthew Waldron, Valiant's Commanding Officer. "In a 24-hour period, the crew both crossed the equator and intercepted a drug-laden self-propelled semi-submersible vessel. Each in and of themselves is momentous events in any cutterman's career. Taken together, however, it is truly remarkably unprecedented. This interdiction was an all-hands-on-deck evolution, and each crew member performed above and beyond the call of duty."

The cocaine held a value over $165 million, the U.S. Coast Guard reported.

This story was written in Orlando, Florida.