U.S. Coast Guard ship offloads $275 million of cocaine days after crew member lost at sea
A U.S. Coast Guard ship that lost a crew member while operating in the Eastern Pacific Ocean offloaded over 37,000 pounds of cocaine on Thursday, officials said.
The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Waesche had been stationed in the Eastern Pacific Ocean from December through February to intercept suspected drug smuggling vessels off the coasts of Mexico, Central America and South America. "Significant narcotics trafficking" occurs in the area, the Coast Guard said.
The ship made 11 such interceptions during the two months it was stationed, resulting in the massive drug haul. The Coast Guard said in a news release that the cocaine had an estimated value of more than $275 million.
"The Waesche crew faced numerous challenges during this patrol, overcoming the hardest adversities and still had 11 successful drug interdictions," said Capt. Tyson Scofield, commanding officer of the Coast Guard Cutter Waesche, in a news release announcing the haul. "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."
While operating, a crew member identified by the Coast Guard as Seaman Bryan K. Lee was reported as unaccounted for on Tuesday, Feb. 4, the week before the ship arrived in San Diego. The Waesche crew and other responding assets, including multiple Air Force aircraft, two Mexican navy vessels and an unmanned drone, searched more than 19,000 square nautical miles for a combined nearly 190 hours before the the search was suspended on Saturday, Feb. 8.
The cutter had been conducting a "routine counter-drug patrol" about 300 nautical miles south of Mexico when Lee was reported missing, the Coast Guard said in a news release. It deviated from the patrol to search for Lee.
The counter-drug patrols are part of a multiagency effort to combat organized crime and drug trafficking, the Coast Guard said. Stopping the movement of drugs through the Eastern Pacific Ocean "requires unity of effort in all phases, from detection, monitoring and interdictions to criminal prosecutions by international partners and U.S. Attorneys' Offices in districts across the nation," the Coast Guard said.
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Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Map and List of Anti-ICE Protests Nationwide Following LA Riots
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Parents, workers, grandparents, young people scared to go about their daily lives. We are a city of immigrants. Washington is attacking our people, our neighborhoods and our economy." California Governor Gavin Newsom said on X that the president "is trying to provoke chaos by sending 4,000 soldiers onto American soil. Foolish agitators who take advantage of Trump's chaos will be held accountable. Stay safe. Stay calm. Look out for one another." President Donald Trump wrote on Truth Social on Monday: "We made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California. If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated." What Happens Next Demonstrations against ICE actions are expected to continue in Los Angeles and other major cities in the coming days. 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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
California sheriff says Newsom ‘encouraged' LA riots as ICE arrests violent illegal aliens
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Los Angeles Times
an hour ago
- Los Angeles Times
At a troubled fashion company, workers found community. Then ICE came
Saraí Ortiz's father Jose worked 18 years for Ambiance Apparel, rising to become a floor manager at the sprawling fast-fashion warehouse in downtown Los Angeles. His tenure ended Friday, when federal authorities raided the company, arresting Jose Ortiz and more than 40 other immigrant workers as Saraí watched. 'You know this is a possibility all your life, but then when it happens, it plays out differently than what you think,' she said Monday, standing in front of the wrought iron fencing of Ambiance's parking lot. Ambiance was one of four businesses raided by ICE on Friday, igniting a weekend of civil unrest that has led to the controversial deployment of the National Guard and active-duty Marines in Los Angeles. It was also the site of the arrest of labor leader David Huerta, who was released Monday on a $50,000 bond. Ortiz was joined at a protest Monday by other families of those detained, making a public plea for help and due process. Many of the wives and children of those taken by ICE — all men — have had little or no contact with their loved ones. Even lawyers have been denied access, they said. Many are also from the Indigenous communities in the central Mexican region of Zacatecas. They have formed tight bonds as they started new lives in Los Angeles, including helping others to find jobs at Ambiance, a company that has a history of run-ins with federal law enforcement, but also one that provided steady work for immigrants, including Ortiz. 'Ambiance complies with the law when it hires employees and it has always only hired people it believes have the legal right to work in the United States,' said Benjamin Gluck, a lawyer representing Ambiance. 'We have reached out to the government to try to learn more about this raid but have not yet learned anything more about it. Ambiance will continue to both follow the law and support its employees, many of whom have been with us for decades.' Although it's unclear why Ambiance Apparel was targeted in the recent operation, the company landed on the radar of federal authorities more than a decade ago. In 2014, law enforcement authorities executed dozens of search warrants as part of an investigation into money laundering and other crimes at Fashion District businesses. Federal authorities seized nearly $36 million in cash from Ambiance and the company's owner, Sang Bum 'Ed' Noh, according to a 2020 news release from the U.S. attorney's office in L.A. The company, which was incorporated in 1999, was described by prosecutors as an importer and exporter of textiles and garments from China, Vietnam, Cambodia and elsewhere. Among its customers were retail apparel chains and people who owned small businesses, mostly in Mexico. Its goods can also be found on Amazon, and in Walmart. Federal prosecutors filed charges against Ambiance Apparel and Noh in 2020, accusing them of undervaluing imported garments and avoiding paying millions of dollars in tariffs to the U.S. Among those investigating Ambiance and Noh were Homeland Security Investigations and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as local law enforcement agencies including the Los Angeles and Long Beach police departments. The company was also accused of failing to report cash payments to employees. The government contended that Ambiance employees received 'approximately 364 payments of more than $10,000 over a two-year period,' totaling more than $11 million. But the company failed to file the required reports on those cash transactions to the federal government, prosecutors said. That same year, Noh pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of subscribing to a false tax return. Ambiance Apparel — the operating name for two corporations, Ambiance U.S.A. Inc. and Apparel Line U.S.A., Inc. — pleaded guilty to eight counts, including conspiracy, money laundering and customs offenses. In 2021, Noh was sentenced to a year in prison 'for scheming to undervalue imported garments and avoid paying millions of dollars in duties to the United States, failing to report millions of dollars in income on tax returns, and failing to report large cash transactions to the federal government,' prosecutors said in a news release. Noh 'made defrauding the United States a significant revenue stream for Ambiance, appropriating approximately $35,227,855.45 from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Internal Revenue Service in less than four years,' prosecutors said in a sentencing memo. 'While [Noh] was cheating the United States and facilitating money laundering, he enjoyed a house in Bel Air, bought luxury cars, and squirreled away bundles of cash worth $35 million in shoeboxes and garbage bags,' prosecutors wrote. The company was sentenced to five years' probation and was ordered to implement an effective anti-money laundering compliance and ethics program with an outside compliance monitor. That monitorship was set to end in October of this year. Despite those troubles, the company, and its employees, seemingly continued to thrive. Montserrat Arrazola's father, Jorge, is another of those workers detained Friday. She said her father is the family's 'breadwinner,' and without his paycheck, there are 'hard times coming' for her and her three brothers. But it's the pain of separation that hurts her the most. Her family was able to speak to Jorge once, and he told them to stay calm. So Montserrat, a college student who wants to become a social worker, is trying. She talked instead about their recent family outing, when they all tried bowling, and how her dad is charismatic and caring. 'He's a family man and he gives all his time to his family,' she said. But not being able to contact those detained is stressful, said Carlos Gonzalez. His older brother Jose was also taken by ICE and like others at the protest, Gonzalez called for due process rights. Gonzalez and his brother had gone camping at Sandy Flat in Sequoia National Forest just the weekend before the raid, a rare chance for them to spend time together. Carlos said he received a call from a cousin Friday, and went to Ambiance, but couldn't reach his brother in the chaos. So Gonzalez went to the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown, but was told there were too many people to process, and was unable to get further information. He went back the next morning to try to bring his brother a sweater, because 'you don't know if it's cold in there,' he said. But he was told his brother had been moved to Santa Ana. That is the last he has heard. His family is caring for Jose's dog Coffee, a 100-plus pound chocolate lab and pit bull mix who cries when Jose isn't near, and working with a lawyer. But there is not much else they can do except wait, and speak out. 'I want people to know that this was inhumane,' Gonzalez said. 'They were just working.'
