Over the weekend, an American aircraft carrier group recovered close to 19 000 pounds of marijuana that had been dumped in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California.

Early on Saturday afternoon, lookouts on the Nimitz spotted two suspicious looking boats and helicopter crews were sent out to investigate. Upon closer inspection they found two 25-foot single-engine boats that were frantically dumping their cargo, 100 pound bales of weed. Just over a hour later a third boat was spotted doing the same thing. Although the boats managed to escape, the navy recovered 186 bags of dumped marijuana.

“The coordinated response of all hands involved was phenomenal,” Nimitz Strike Group Commander Rear Adm. Pete Gumataotao said in a statement. “The combined efforts of each of our strike group components demonstrated the flexibility and capability that defines how we conduct business.”

“This crew’s response was amazing,” Nimitz Commanding Officer Capt. Jeff Ruth said in a statement. “To operationally shift gears quickly and safely from carrier qualifications to a real-world response shows what true professionals work here.”

The successful effort was achieved by an ad hoc team comprising “crews from the aircraft carrier Nimitz, guided-missile cruiser Princeton, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 6, Helicopter Maritime Squadron 75 and the Mexican Navy.”

Seems it was just a massive case of wrong-place-wrong-time for the smugglers as the the Nimitz Strike Group were conducting carrier qualification operations off the Southern California coast.

[Source: UT San Diego]