Four tons of pot found floating in the Pacific
A Colombian anti-drugs police officer checks packages of marijuana, part of a load of five tons seized in the outskirts of Cali, in Colombia’s department of Valle del Cauca. Four tons of marijuana were found floating off the coast of California in the Pacific Ocean on May 21, 2012.
More than four tons of marijuana were recovered by US authorities from the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California, on Sunday, according to Reuters.
CNN reported that the value of the pot that was fished out amounted to $3.6 million.
The Border Patrol, the US Coast Guard and the Orange County sheriff's office were all involved in seizing the 160 bales of pot, floating 13 miles off Dana Point, California, said CNN.
The seizure was one of the largest of its kind along the maritime smuggling route.
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Lt. Joe Balicki from the Orange County sheriff's department said the first calls reporting the suspicious bales came around noon, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Border Patrol Agent Supervisor Michael Jimenez said the case was unusual as usually such dumps of cargo happened when the drug traffickers were trying to flee the authorities. "At other events, they've dumped the bales to get rid of weight if they're being chased," he said, according to The New York Daily News.
Jimenez added, "What's more unusual is that the bales were floating with no boat in sight."
Reuters noted that the coastal strip near California has become more commonly used as smugglers try to avoid security on land borders.