With the U.S. Coast Guard and Royal Canadian Navy, USS Kauffman (FFG 59) seized 1,017 kilograms of cocaine and detained eight crew members of a suspected narcotic-trafficking vessel in international waters in the Western Caribbean, Feb. 28.

The cocaine was worth an estimated wholesale value of approximately $33.9 million.

The suspected smuggling vessel was spotted during a routine patrol of Western Caribbean international waters in support of Operation Martillo.

Kauffman's embarked U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) boarded the freighter and seized the illicit cargo.

Aboard the vessel, the LEDET faced difficult conditions as the seas grew increasingly more violent and the vessel began to take on water. With the assistance of USCG LEDETs embarked on HMCS Goose Bay (MM 707) and HMCS Shawinigan (MM 704), Coast Guardsmen discovered illicit cargo in a hidden compartment.

Kauffman took custody of the eight crew members and narcotics found on board. A rescue and assistance team from Kauffman was sent to the smuggling vessel to make a seaworthiness assessment, to determine if the ship could be safely towed to a safe location and to aid in vessel dewatering due to a failed bilge pumping system. Detailed assessments determined that the ship posed a significant risk to personnel and that safest course of action was to scuttle the ship as a danger to navigation.

That evening, using its organic weapon systems and trained personnel, Kauffman sank the smuggling vessel off the coast of Panama.

Kauffman, an Oliver Hazard Perry-class guided-missile frigate, is currently deployed to the 4th Fleet area of operations in support of Operation Martillo. Operation Martillo, a joint, international law enforcement and military operation involving the U.S., European and Western Hemisphere partner nations, targets illicit trafficking routes in the waters off Central America.

Overall coordination of counter-drug patrols and surveillance in the Eastern Pacific is done by Joint Interagency Task Force South headquartered in Key West, Florida. U.S. maritime law enforcement and the interdiction phase of operations in the region occur under the tactical control of the Coast Guard 7th District headquartered in Miami.

U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and U.S. 4th Fleet support USSOUTHCOM's joint and combined military operations by employing maritime forces in cooperative maritime security operations to maintain access, enhance interoperability and build enduring partnerships in order to enhance regional security and promote peace, stability and prosperity in the Caribbean, Central and South American regions.

For more news from U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command & U.S. 4th Fleet, visit www.navy.mil/.