SAN DIEGO

Cocaine valued at about $765 million seized in international waters off Central and South America was unloaded Thursday from a Coast Guard cutter in San Diego.

The cocaine weighed a total of about 25 tons, Coast Guard officials said.

Five Coast Guard cutters and a Canadian naval vessel that had a Coast Guard law-enforcement team onboard made the seizures in the eastern Pacific Ocean between late July and early November.


Most of the seizures were made from boats that were intercepted. Nearly 8 tons were seized from a semi-submersible, and two abandoned bales were recovered from the water, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Joel Guzman.

The drugs were turned over to federal law-enforcement officials for evidence in prosecutions.

The cocaine was unloaded at the 10th Avenue Marine Terminal from the Cutter Bertholf, which was involved in about half of the interdictions.

During fiscal year 2015, U.S. Coast Guard personnel have seized more than 158,000 pounds of cocaine in drug trafficking zones in the Eastern Pacific, the Coast Guard said in a statement.


The interdictions were made by crews on Coast Guard cutters, U.S. Navy vessels and ships from international allies.

That fiscal year 2015 total surpasses the total cocaine seizures in that region from fiscal years 2012 through 2014, federal officials said.

During the drug-interdiction operations off Central and South America, suspected vessels are tracked by military or law enforcement vessels. The ships are boarded and searched by Coast Guard crews.