Boston-based US Coast Guard seizes 4.6 tons of cocaine

A Boston-based U.S. Coast Guard vessel scheduled to come home this Saturday found more than just waves in the Pacific Ocean — the cutter Seneca seized 4.6 tons of cocaine.

During a 68-day deployment traveling through the Panama Canal, the cutter intercepted five vessels delivering cocaine from South America to the United States.

Seneca spent several weeks fighting transnational crime in the Eastern Pacific Ocean along with a deployed armed Coast Guard helicopter.

One of the vessels carrying cocaine was the first of a new type of Low Profile Vessel. These types of vessels “are unique in that they are fully enclosed, camouflaged, and specifically designed to smuggle large quantities of narcotics by decreasing their probability of detection,” the Coast Guard said in a statement.

Along with seizing the cocaine, estimated to have a street value of $154 million, the patrol resulted in the apprehension of 15 suspected narcotics smugglers.

Coast Guard Cutter Seneca was commissioned in 1987 and has been active for nearly 30 years. This was its third deployment to the Pacific this year.