Coast Guard
Coast Guard Cutter Waesche offloads $275 million of cocaine
Stars and Stripes
February 16, 2025
U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Waesche crew members offload bales of seized narcotics in San Diego, Feb. 13, 2025. The drugs, worth an estimated $275 million, were seized in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. (Christopher Sappey/U.S. Coast Guard)
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Waesche unloaded a cache of cocaine with an estimated street value of $275 million last week in San Diego.
The total weight offloaded Thursday: 37,256 pounds, the service said in a news release.
The cocaine was captured in 11 separate drug smuggling vessel interdictions off the coasts of Mexico and Central and South America in December through February.
“The Waesche crew faced numerous challenges during this patrol, overcoming the hardest adversities and still had 11 successful drug interdictions,” said commanding officer Capt. Tyson Scofield, commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Waesche. “Their dedication, strength of character, and resilience ensured the success of our mission, preventing over $275 million worth of illicit narcotics from reaching the United States and protecting our communities from the devastating effects of transnational crime.”
Multiple U.S. agencies — including the Departments of Defense, Justice and Homeland Security — combine in the U.S. effort to combat transnational organized crime. The Coast Guard, Navy, Customs and Border Protection, FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with allied and international partner agencies, all play a role.
Commissioned in 2010, Waesche is one of four Legend-class national security cutters homeported in Alameda, Calif. National security cutters are 418 feet long, 54 feet wide, have a top speed of over 28 knots, a range of 12,000 nautical miles, endurance of up to 90 days and can hold a crew of up to 170. The advanced technologies of the national security cutter class ships are designed to support the operations and missions in the Indo-Pacific region.
On Monday, the Coast Guard ended a search for Seaman Bryan K. Lee, who was reported missing from the Waesche while operating in the eastern Pacific Ocean.