Coast Guardsmen from the Coast Guard Cutter Stratton homeported in Alameda, California, and a Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron from Jacksonville, Florida, interdict a suspected drug smuggling vessel several hundred miles southwest of Acapulco, Mexico, Sept. 6, 2017. The Coast Guardsmen apprehended three suspected smugglers and seized more than 700 pounds of cocaine from the vessel. An increased presence of U.S. and allied forces in the Eastern Pacific Ocean coupled with increased cocoa production in South America has led to a significant increase in narcotics removal in the drug transit zones off South and Central America. Coast Guard video by Coast Guard Cutter Stratton crew.