The Coast Guard seized a record 76,000 pounds of drugs this summer off Central and South America

The U.S. Coast Guard seized more than 75,000 pounds (34,000 kilograms) of illegal drugs this summer from boats far out to sea in the Pacific and Caribbean, which the service called its largest-ever haul worth nearly half a billion dollars. The Coast Guard worked with the Department of Defense on these seizures, catching 19 drug-carrying vessels off the Galapagos Islands of Ecuador, the coast of Venezuela, Mexico, the Dominican Republican, Jamaica and Aruba, the Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard said 34 suspected drug traffickers were detained, but authorities didn’t specify the total number of suspects detained from all of the interdictions.