Crew members from the Coast Guard cutter Vigilant (WMEC-617) offload more than 1,510 pounds of cocaine and 1,470 pounds of marijuana with a combined value of about $18.5 million in Port Everglades, Florida, on November 22, 2024. PETTY OFFICER 3RD CLASS ERIC RODRIGUEZ/U.S. COAST GUARD
The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant (WMEC-617) returned home to Cape Canaveral, Florida, on November 23, 2024, after offloading more than 1,510 pounds of cocaine and 1,470 pounds of marijuana with a combined value of about $18.5 million in Port Everglades. Crew members from the Vigilant, working alongside interagency and international partners while on a 54-day patrol, seized the illegal drugs in international waters of the Caribbean Sea during two separate interdictions.
The Vigilant’s crew worked with:
- Royal Netherlands Navy ship HNLMS Holland (P-840)
- S. Coast Guard Tactical Law Enforcement Team South (TACLET-South)
- S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations (CBP-AMO)
- Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-South)
Fifteen people suspected of smuggling were arrested and face prosecution in federal courts by the U.S. Department of Justice. While on patrol, the Vigilant also supported Operation Vigilant Sentry and rescued or helped more than 40 people in the Caribbean before and after Hurricane Milton, including 22 migrants who were stranded on a remote Bahamian island.
“This was another exceptional patrol highlighting the versatility of our cutter and crew conducting search and rescue, migrant interdiction and counternarcotic operations,” said Cmdr. Jon Potterton, commanding officer of the Vigilant. “We are proud to work seamlessly with partner nations, partner agencies and other Coast Guard assets to keep drugs off the streets and rescue people in distress during a very busy hurricane season. We look forward to returning to our community and families and celebrating Cutter Vigilant’s 60 years of service.”
In July 2024, the Vigilant returned home after a 55-day patrol during which it assisted Coast Guard Sector Key West with the rescue of 117 Haitian migrants in the Straits of Florida. The migrants, bound for the U.S., were on a vessel that was grossly overloaded and unseaworthy, the Coast Guard said.
On February 1, 2024, the Vigilant helped rescue two French boaters from a disabled sailing vessel in the Caribbean Sea, about 147 nautical miles south of Puerto Rico. French citizens Robert Punginier, 77, and Marie Claude Durand, 50, were reportedly adrift for over seven days.
Homeland Security Task Force-Southeast serves as the Department of Homeland Security’s lead for operational and tactical planning, command and control, and as a standing organization to deter and respond to mass migration in the Caribbean and the Straits of Florida. Drug interdictions in the Caribbean Sea are performed by members of the U.S. Coast Guard under the authority of the Coast Guard’s 7th District, headquartered in Miami.
The Vigilant is a 210-foot Reliance-class medium endurance cutter. Its primary missions are search and rescue, counterdrug operations, migrant interdiction and enforcement of federal fishery regulations in support of U.S. Coast Guard operations.
The cutter is under the command of the U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area. Based in Portsmouth, Virginia, U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area oversees all Coast Guard operations east of the Rocky Mountains to the Arabian Gulf. Atlantic Area also allocates ships to deploy to the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific to combat transnational organized crime and illicit maritime activity.