Story Archive

Drug Turtle

The U.S. Coast Guard cutter Thetis was on a mission in the Pacific Ocean alongside members of the Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron and the Royal Canadian Navy when it sent a small boat to check out some debris in the water. The debris turned out to be a bundle of packages of cocaine — seven tons of it — which was just the sort of thing the Coast Guard was looking for. But tangled among the bales of drugs was one endangered sea turtle with, commanding officer Mark Krebs said, “significant chafing from the lines on his neck and flippers.” His team seized the drugs, but let the turtle go free. (AC/Miami Herald) ...How to avoid arrest when entangled with drugs: be an endangered turtle.