Sea Turtle Trapped In Floating Cocaine Bales Freed By Coast Guard

An endangered sea turtle rescued from the Pacific Ocean by Coast Guard patrols last month was literally on cocaine. The crew of the cutter Thetis encountered the sea turtle tangled in floating bales of the contraband worth more than $53 million. Together, the 26 bales weighed about 1,800 pounds, the Coast Guard said.

A military plane spotted the bales, which were tethered together, on Nov. 19. The Coast Guard figures the cocaine was jettisoned by a fast-moving boat as authorities closed in.

The Thetis crew cut the turtle loose. Lines had wrapped around the turtle’s neck and fins, and it had chafe marks on its neck. It likely had been trapped for a couple of days, Commander Jose Diaz told NBC News. The crew also removed 75 feet of line to prevent other sea creatures from becoming entangled.

Though finding a sea turtle entangled in cocaine is unusual, flotillas of cocaine aren’t as the drug makes a comeback, NBC News reports. The cutter Thetis is part of Operation Martillo, an international enforcement effort launched in 2012 to interrupt drug trafficking along the Central American coast.

Cocaine was a drug of choice in the 1980s and 1990s, but the landscape has since dramatically shifted as opioids — including heroin, prescription pain relievers, and fentanyl and other synthetic opioids — gained popularity, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

But cocaine use is rebounding, “partially due to record increases in coca cultivation and cocaine production in Colombia, the primary source for the cocaine market in the United States,” the DEA said in October.

The DEA theorizes cocaine farmers increased production after Columbia’s Marxist FARC rebels promised to stop trafficking in the drug as part of a peace accord reached in 2016, NBC said.

"The United States can expect to see increased levels of cocaine supply and use, at least through 2018," the DEA's report said. "As coca cultivation and cocaine production in Colombia increase, the United States will very likely see continued increases in cocaine-related deaths, new initiates, seizures, and positive workplace drug tests."

According to that report, cocaine use in the United States dropped between 2009 and 2013, but in 2014 increased to 1.5 million people who said they had used it in the past month. By 2015, the number of people who had used it in the previous month increased to 1.9 million.

With increased use comes a higher death toll, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which said cocaine-related deaths increased to 10,619 in 2016, up from 6,986 the year prior.

Opioid-related deaths still far outnumbered those related to cocaine use, though. Heroin deaths increased to 15,446 in 2016, up from 13,219 in 2015.

Deaths from natural or semi-synthetic opioids increased to 14,427, compared to 12,726 in 2015. The CDC said 3,314 deaths in 2016 were related to methadone, compared to 3,276 the year earlier, and synthetic opioid drugs (excluding methadone) more than doubled, to 20,145 in 2016 from 9,945 in the 2015.

Video and image from The Associated Press