SAN DIEGO – The U.S. Coast Guard has seized more than 50,000 pounds of cocaine off Latin America during the past four months in what is shaping up to be a record year for seizures in the Pacific.
Officials on Thursday took the drugs off a ship at a port in San Diego.
The drugs were seized between late July and early November. Authorities seized 66,000 pounds of cocaine and heroin during the first 10 months of the 2015 fiscal year, worth more than $1 billion.
So far, officials say they have seized 158,000 pounds of illegal drugs in fiscal year 2015 in the eastern Pacific, more than they did in the previous three years combined.
Officials attribute the increase in part to having a greater presence after their operating budget was restored.
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