Coast Guard seizes 6,500 lb of marijuana from Jamaican boat off Key West
A joint U.S. Coast Guard crew seized about 6,500 pounds of marijuana from the adrift Jamaican fishing vessel Captain Richard in the Caribbean Sea. The boat's crew was taken into custody and the marijuana, valued at $6.2 million wholesale, was offloaded in Key West on 16 October 2012.
🇺🇸 Caribbean Sea, off Key West, Florida · Florida, United States
Seventh District watchstanders tasked the Coast Guard crew to assist the
Jamaican-flagged fishing vessel Captain Richard after learning it was disabled
and adrift in the Caribbean Sea without fuel more than 200 miles from the
nearest port.[1]The combined crew took the 60-foot Jamaican-flagged fishing
vessel Captain Richard in tow after finding it disabled and adrift in the
Caribbean Sea without fuel more than 200 miles from the nearest port.[1]The
Coast Guard boarded the Captain Richard after receiving permission from the
Government of Jamaica to conduct a law enforcement boarding.[1]The crew of
the Captain Richard was detained after the discovery of the marijuana aboard the
vessel.[2]
The boarding team found several hundred packages wrapped in plastic wrap and
tape, and the contents later tested positive for marijuana.[1]About 6,500
pounds of marijuana was seized in the joint effort of the crews of the Coast
Guard Cutters Mohawk and Tahoma and offloaded in Key West on 16 October 2012.[1]The Coast Guard put the estimated wholesale value of the marijuana at $6.2
million.[3]
A joint crew of Tahoma personnel with six Mohawk crewmembers operated aboard the
Mohawk while the Tahoma underwent a nine-month overhaul at the Coast Guard Yard
in Baltimore.[1]The seizure came about two weeks after more than $1 million
in marijuana washed ashore near West Palm Beach.[3]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
No opened source gives the number of crew members detained, their names, or any charges or court outcome.
16 October 2012 is the offload date and the Tuesday of the publication week; no separate interdiction date was published, so it stands in for the incident date.
The Military.com copy of the Coast Guard account truncates the value as $6.2.; this report uses the CBS account's stated $6.2 million wholesale figure.
The more than $1 million in marijuana reported washed ashore near West Palm Beach two weeks earlier is a separate event left out of the figures.
A 70-year-old man was arrested and booked into jail after Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board officers and Snohomish County deputies searched a property near Monroe on 6 November 2026. Investigators seized approximately 2,700 live and dried marijuana plants from what they described as an unlicensed cannabis production operation.
HSI in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, said two go-fast vessels carrying about 3,200 kilograms of marijuana and 3,188 kilograms of cocaine were intercepted under Operation Iron Current, a case against a Colombia-based trafficking organization. ICE put the street value of the haul at more than $80.5 million.
Indiana State Police seized nearly 1,000 grams of suspected marijuana alongside cocaine, fentanyl and guns in Operation Iron Scale raids on 3 November 2026 across Fort Wayne, Huntertown and Noblesville. Twelve people were arrested on felony conspiracy and narcotics-dealing charges, with no separate marijuana charges reported.
Waynesville police seized more than $56,000 worth of THC products said to have been sold or given to middle and high school children, arresting one person. Police said many items contained marijuana or THC extracts in youth-friendly packaging and warned parents about their appearance.
