Port Angeles-based Coast Guard ship returns after nabbing more than $87 million worth of drugs in Pacific

PORT ANGELES, Wash. — A Coast Guard cutter has returned to its home in Port Angeles after spending 50 days fighting drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, according to a news release from the U.S. Coast Guard.

Coast Guard Cutter Active returned home Friday following a 50-day counter-drug deployment to the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

The 75-member crew aboard Active conducted multiple law enforcement boardings in international waters off the coasts of Central and South America. The cutter interdicted three suspected smuggling vessels, disrupting the movement of 5,794 pounds of illegal drugs valued at more than $87 million.

An Air Station Port Angeles aircrew and a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter embarked aboard Active for the majority of the patrol. The aircrew aided in the interdiction of suspected narcotics traffickers. Two members of the Chilean Navy also deployed aboard Active during the patrol.

The U.S Coast Guard partners with other nations through bilateral agreements to conduct interdictions in foreign and international waters.

Active is a 210-foot Medium Endurance Cutter commissioned in 1966 and homeported in Port Angeles. Active’s crew routinely operate from the Straits of Juan de Fuca down to the waters off Central America. Active conducts nine of the Coast Guard’s 11 statutory missions, including search and rescue, drug interdiction, fisheries enforcement and homeland security.