MIAMI (CMC) - The United States Coast Guard says it has it brought ashore more than half a ton of cocaine, with a street value of more than US$17 million, seized during operations in the Caribbean.

The Coast Guard said that the drug was recovered by a crew “after an at-sea chase.

“Using coordinates provided by US Customs and Border Protection, the Coast Guard cutter Mohawk was sent to intercept a fast boat in the south western Caribbean on January 24,” said a US Coast Guard statement.

It said a helicopter off the Mohawk “located the go-fast vessel and witnessed the suspected smugglers jettison the contraband as they continued their pursuit” and that crew members “plucked from the water 1,400 pounds of cocaine with an estimated wholesale value of more than US$17 million”.

The Coast Guard said “four suspected smugglers” whose names and nationalities were withheld had been turned over to law enforcement authorities.