PORT ANGELES — The U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Active is back home in Port Angeles after a major counternarcotics mission in the eastern Pacific.
The 60-day deployment covered more than 10,000 nautical miles and resulted in the seizure of over 6,000 pounds of cocaine, with an estimated street value of more than 41 million dollars.
During a 72-hour stretch at sea, the Active intercepted two high-speed smuggling boats designed to evade detection. Working with other Coast Guard cutters, the crew detained six suspected smugglers and offloaded the seized drugs in San Diego.
The mission was part of Operation Pacific Viper, a Coast Guard effort targeting transnational criminal organizations and disrupting drug routes before narcotics reach U.S. communities.
The Active, nicknamed “Lil Tough Guy,” has been homeported in Port Angeles since the 1960s and remains one of the Coast Guard’s most experienced cutters in the Pacific.