Today, His Majesty's Canadian Ship (HMCS) Edmonton concludes its two-and-a-half-month deployment off the Pacific coast of Central America, under Operation CARIBBE, from February 13 to April 28, 2023 and returns to the ship's home port at Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Esquimalt.
Operation CARIBBE is Canada's contribution to the U.S.-led Enhanced Counternarcotics Operations under Joint Interagency Task Force South, which is responsible for conducting interagency and international detection, monitoring operations, and facilitating the interdiction of illicit trafficking.
During the ship's deployment on Operation CARIBBE, on April 8, 2023, HMCS Edmonton in partnership with two United States Coast Guard Ships intercepted a drug smuggling vessel, seizing large quantities of narcotics off the coast of Mexico. The seized narcotics are estimated to be 755 kilograms of cocaine, with an estimated Canadian street value of $49.5 million.
The seven people suspected of drug smuggling are now in the custody of the United States Department of Justice on suspicion of maritime drug trafficking, and the vessel itself was disposed of at sea due to the threat it posed to navigation.
