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Coast Guard cutter seizes $1.6M in marijuana

The crew of the medium-endurance cutter Venturous seized 2,500 pounds of marijuana during its recent 54-day patrol in the Caribbean Sea worth an estimated $1.6 million, according to the Coast Guard.

The haul was the service’s first big bust for the fiscal year that began Thursday.

Venturous crew members, who returned Sunday, worked closely with other Coast Guard cutters and the Dominican Republic’s navy to conduct counternarcotic and migrant-interdiction operations. On Thursday, Venturous crew members intercepted a vessel in the Caribbean Sea with four people and 107 bales of marijuana aboard. Venturous deployed its small-boat crew to pursue the vessel, while firing warning shots. Eventually, the Coast Guard shot at the vessel’s engines after the people aboard the vessel ignored orders stop.

The Venturous crew turned over the marijuana and the vessel to authorities in Miami on Saturday.

Venturous crew members also assisted the Haitian Coast Guard when an overloaded vessel with 142 Haitian migrants was spotted off the coast of Haiti. Venturous crew members escorted the vessel until it was met by the Haitian Coast Guard and was safely returned to port.

“It was my first patrol onboard Venturous, and I am very proud of the crew and their ability to work together to master a multitude of missions,” said Cmdr. Ted St. Pierre, the Venturous’ commanding officer, said in a statement. “Additionally, it was exciting to work with the Dominican Republic Navy and our partner agencies in our efforts to curtail drug trafficking.”

Venturous is a 210-foot Reliance-class cutter homeported in St. Petersburg, Fla., and has a crew of 85 officers and enlisted personnel.

The Coast Guard, working closely with its partner law-enforcement agencies, seized more than 276,203 pounds of cocaine and 63,184 pounds of marijuana in fiscal 2009.