(TAHOE CITY, Calif.) — Rescuers are responding to an avalanche at the Palisades Tahoe resort on the California side of Lake Tahoe, the Placer County Sheriff’s Office said.
Palisades Tahoe Resort said the avalanche was reported around 9:30 a.m. local time. The resort said both sides of the mountain are closed as the search continues.
The avalanche comes as a strong storm has blanketed much of the Sierra Nevada mountains with snow this week. Snow is ongoing and the Tahoe area will likely see an additional foot or more of snowfall Wednesday afternoon through Thursday morning.
Cal Fire is helping with rescue efforts. The Office of the Governor of California said it is “monitoring and standing by to assist.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — As children, they were part of one of the most dangerous polygamous cult movements in history, with members committing a mass killing at the behest of its late leader.
And now two sisters who grew up in the LeBaron Cult are telling their story of escape, shock and living in fear.
“Daughters of the Cult,” a five-part ABC News Studios docuseries now streaming on Hulu, chronicles the story of several people, including Anna and Celia LeBaron, who were involved in Ervil LeBaron’s splinter Mormon fundamentalist group that operated throughout the Southwest and Mexico.
The sisters said they were lucky to be alive as their father controlled dozens of their family members and manipulated his followers to enact a deadly wave of violence against rival groups and others who opposed him.
“Many of my siblings are afraid to tell their stories, and I don’t blame them,” Anna LeBaron said.
“We’re afraid. We’re doing this afraid,” Celia LeBaron said, referring to participating in the docuseries.
After the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ended polygamy in 1890, it excommunicated members who were still marrying multiple spouses. Those former members created their own splinter group to continue their polygamous relationships.
Ervil LeBaron and his brother Joel were descendants of that group and led the community in 1951 after their father died.
The brothers formed the organization called “Firstborn of the Fullness of Times.”
Ervil LeBaron had over 13 wives and at least 50 children, according to his family.
Celia LeBaron described her family’s upbringing as very “closed-minded,” as her father claimed to be the “Prophet of God.”
“We were indoctrinated from birth,…and it was absolute brainwashing,” she said.
A rift began to form between Joel and Ervil LeBaron when Ervil accused his brother of being a “false prophet.” Celia and Anna LeBaron said their father then became more militant, practicing military drills and arming his family and other cult members, including the children.
“Ervil wanted all of Joel’s followers to bend the knee to him and give him their tithe money,” Anna LeBaron said.
In 1972, Joel LeBaron broke off and formed another group, the “Church of the First Born of the Lamb of God.” Later that year, Joel LeBaron was murdered in Mexico by Ervil LeBaron’s followers at his orders, law enforcement learned.
Hunted by the FBI, Ervil LeBaron would move his family around the U.S. and Mexico to avoid capture, unbeknownst to his children. Anna LeBaron said she moved as many as 15 times before she was 10.
“We were awakened up in the middle of the night one night. Told not to ask any questions. It was all hush hush, urgent tones and scary,” she said. “We were just told, ‘quickly, put on your shoes. Don’t ask any questions.'”
Celia LeBaron said that she and her siblings were taught not to trust the authorities and that they were agents of evil.
“If they were to ask us any questions, we were literally trained to say ‘I don’t know,'” she said.
Ervil LeBaron eventually turned himself in to the Mexican police, and was convicted for his brother’s murder in 1974. However, his conviction was overturned by a higher court on a technicality and he was released.
This would be the start of years of violence orchestrated by Ervil LeBaron, who used members of his group and family, including two of his wives, to murder rival polygamous leaders.
“I think they felt like they were doing the right thing because we were God’s chosen people,” Anna LeBaron said.
Ervil LeBaron didn’t just target rivals with violence, according to Anna and Celia LeBaron. He used his supporters to murder family members who crossed him or threatened to leave the group.
Rebecca LeBaron, Anna and Celia’s half-sister, was believed to have been murdered while pregnant with her second child, at Ervil LeBaron’s orders, when she expressed interest in leaving the cult, according to the sisters. Her body was never found and no one was arrested in connection with her disappearance.
“So many of the women in our group were taught to stay quiet. You weren’t allowed to complain, you weren’t allowed to question, you weren’t allowed to think your own thoughts about anything. It was normalized to just do what you’re told, and not ask any questions. And so, that’s what we did,” Anna LeBaron said.
Authorities in both Mexico and the U.S. tried to apprehend Ervil LeBaron and even raided many of the places he and his followers lived.
In 1979, he was apprehended by Mexican authorities and extradited to the U.S., where he was convicted in the murder of Rulon Allred, another polygamous leader.
Although he was behind bars, Ervil LeBaron still wielded power among his followers and family, according to Anna and Celia LeBaron.
He allegedly wrote letters to his followers with violent messages and orders, including one where he told them to break him out of captivity.
“When you read his writings, you would understand that these are not the writings of a man who is in his right mind,” Anna LeBaron said.
Ervil LeBaron was sentenced to life in prison in 1980, and he died while in prison a year later from an apparent heart attack.
Shortly after his death, Anna LeBaron was living in Houston with her mother. Her sister Lillian and her brother-in-law Mark Chynoweth were also living in the city and they were having misgivings about the cult, according to Anna LeBaron.
Anna LeBaron claimed that Dan Jordan, her father’s second-in-command, met with her mother and claimed that Mark was evil and she needed to move to Denver.
Anna LeBaron, then 13, ran away from her mother to her sister Lillian’s home in 1983.
“I felt like I had one chance. One chance to get out of there. So I started walking,” she said. “I am absolutely certain that somebody is going to come and find me. It was very frightening because I knew if somebody saw me, that was the end.”
“I didn’t feel like I was being rebellious. It never occurred to me that I was gonna be isolated from my mom and my siblings,” Anna LeBaron added.
Celia LeBaron remained with the family in Denver for another three years and said she was being emotionally and physically abused by Jordan and his wife.
In 1986, she called her sisters in Houston and Lillian arranged for a flight to leave the cult.
“I landed in Houston and walked down the runway, and there was my sister and her husband. And I knew, in that moment, that I was safe. I moved in with my sister and I got reunited with Anna,” Celia LeBaron said.
The sisters would later find out that their former family and organization would be involved in a gruesome series of killings orchestrated from beyond the grave.
While in prison, Ervil LeBaron wrote a manifesto titled, “The Book of the New Covenants” which was printed and distributed to his members.
The book contained a hit list of people who were deemed enemies of the church.
Anna LeBaron said she and her family members had heard of rumors of such a kill list and were concerned.
On June 27, 1988, at exactly 4:00 p.m., members of Ervil LeBaron’s cult took part in simultaneous shootings targeting people who were on that hit list.
Former follower Duane Chynoweth and his 8-year-old daughter and Eddie Marston, Ervil LeBaron’s stepson, were among the victims.
Mark Chynoweth was also shot six times in what was dubbed the “4 O’Clock Murders.”
“It was other parts of our family. Other people that we loved were killing these precious humans that we adored,” Celia LeBaron said.
The sisters immediately told authorities about their father’s plans, but they remained in constant fear that they could be next.
Anna LeBaron said she had trouble applying to colleges as administrators feared other students’ parents would be concerned. Her sister Lillian would eventually take her own life.
Seven cult members were arrested over the next two decades in connection with the murders. Five were convicted. Cynthia LeBaron was granted immunity for testifying against her co-conspirators.
Jacqueline Tarsa LeBaron was captured in 2010 and pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct religious beliefs a year later. She was sentenced to five years in prison but was released early.
“It was better that they be in prison. But there are a lot of mixed emotions,” Celia LeBaron said. “These are people that you love. That you care about. It was heart-wrenching.”
The sisters said they have tried to live their lives the best they can despite their trauma.
“It’s been over 40 years since I escaped my father’s cult,” Anna LeBaron said. “To be able to grow and become the person that I am today. To heal enough that I was able to write my own story and to publish my book. I want to be an inspiration to others. Anyone who’s experienced abuse, neglect, abandonment, those things don’t have to define us today. I have overcome all of the odds, and here I am.”
“Daughters of the Cult” is produced by ABC News Studios, All3Media and Main Event Media. Emily Bon, Jimmy Fox and Jacob Cohen-Holmes are executive producers. Sara Mast is director and executive producer, and Smith Glover is co-executive producer. ABC News Studios’ David Sloan is the senior executive producer, and Beth Hoppe is the executive producer.
(NEW YORK) — Severe weather across the U.S. has left at least five people dead and is causing rivers to rise to dangerous levels as more winter storms move in.
Hundreds of thousands of customers are without power across the U.S. Wednesday, with New York and Pennsylvania hit the hardest.
While the rain in the Northeast has stopped for now, it could still cause rivers to rise over their banks in the next two days.
The Raritan River crested Wednesday in Piscataway Township, New Jersey, and local police urged residents to move cars near the river to higher ground.
In Norwich, Connecticut, dam conditions prompted officials to issue a mandatory evacuation order on Wednesday for areas along the Yantic River.
“Residents evacuating from Yantic are advised that they may be displaced from their residences and businesses for several days,” Norwich Public Utilities warned.
The Pawtuxet River in Rhode Island and the Pompton and Passaic rivers in New Jersey could also go to into major flooding stages.
On Tuesday, the storms caused at least five fatalities across the U.S.
In Wisconsin, one person was killed in a car crash due to poor road conditions amid snowfall, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.
Another car crash killed a 35-year-old woman in Webber Township, Michigan, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
In Cottonwood, Alabama, an 81-year-old woman was killed when a possible tornado blew her mobile home over multiple times while she was inside, according to the Houston County medical examiner and coroner.
Another person was killed when severe weather damaged multiple residences at a mobile home park in Claremont, North Carolina, and the National Weather Service is evaluating where a tornado occurred in the area, according to the Catawba County Government.
In Jonesboro, Georgia, a tree fell on the windshield of a car, killing the driver, according to the Clayton County Police Department.
This week at least 23 tornadoes have been reported across Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.
The same system brought up to 15 inches of snow to the Midwest and winds as high as 65 mph to the Northeast.
More than 3 inches of heavy rain fell on top of melting snow in the Northeast, crippling travel as floodwaters spilled into roadways.
Now, another winter storm is heading from the West Coast to the East Coast.
The storm already dumped up to 30 inches of snow and brought rare blizzard conditions to the Pacific Northwest over the last 24 hours.
On Wednesday, the heavy snow is falling in the Sierra Nevada mountain range and will move through the Rockies on Thursday.
This storm will bring another severe weather outbreak to the South from Thursday night through Friday. Damaging winds, large hail, flash flooding and tornadoes are possible from Texas to Florida to the Carolinas.
In the north, snow will stretch from Iowa to Missouri to Michigan to Chicago on Friday and Saturday, with more than 1 foot of snow possible in some spots.
The storm will reach the Northeast late Friday night into Saturday morning. More heavy rain, gusty winds and flooding are expected.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Severe weather across the U.S. has left at least five people dead and is causing rivers to rise to dangerous levels as more winter storms move in.
Hundreds of thousands of customers are without power across the U.S. Wednesday, with New York and Pennsylvania hit the hardest.
While the rain in the Northeast has stopped for now, it could still cause rivers to rise over their banks in the next two days.
The Raritan River crested Wednesday in Piscataway Township, New Jersey, and local police urged residents to move cars near the river to higher ground.
In Norwich, Connecticut, dam conditions prompted officials to issue a mandatory evacuation order on Wednesday for areas along the Yantic River.
“Residents evacuating from Yantic are advised that they may be displaced from their residences and businesses for several days,” Norwich Public Utilities warned.
The Pawtuxet River in Rhode Island and the Pompton and Passaic rivers in New Jersey could also go to into major flooding stages.
On Tuesday, the storms caused at least five fatalities across the U.S.
In Wisconsin, one person was killed in a car crash due to poor road conditions amid snowfall, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office said.
Another car crash killed a 35-year-old woman in Webber Township, Michigan, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
In Cottonwood, Alabama, an 81-year-old woman was killed when a possible tornado blew her mobile home over multiple times while she was inside, according to the Houston County medical examiner and coroner.
Another person was killed when severe weather damaged multiple residences at a mobile home park in Claremont, North Carolina, and the National Weather Service is evaluating where a tornado occurred in the area, according to the Catawba County Government.
In Jonesboro, Georgia, a tree fell on the windshield of a car, killing the driver, according to the Clayton County Police Department.
Since Monday, at least 23 tornadoes have been reported across Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina.
The same system brought up to 15 inches of snow to the Midwest and winds as high as 65 mph to the Northeast.
More than 3 inches of heavy rain fell on top of melting snow in the Northeast, crippling travel as floodwaters spilled into roadways.
Now, another cross-country weather system is headed toward the East Coast.
The storm has already dumped up to 30 inches of snow in the Pacific Northwest.
The system is expected to move through the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada mountain range on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving several feet of snow, before shifting east and producing another severe weather outbreak from Texas to the Carolinas, with the possibility of tornadoes.
Another major snowstorm is expected in the north with up to 1 foot of snowfall from Nebraska to Michigan.
Storms are forecast to move into the Northeast on Friday night and Saturday morning, bringing up to 4 inches of heavy rain and the potential for flooding.
ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Officers with the Transportation Security Administration found 6,737 guns — a record high — at airport security checkpoints across the U.S. last year, the agency said Wednesday.
About 93% of the guns found were loaded, the TSA said.
This marks the third year in a row that a record number of guns were confiscated by airport security.
The total of 6,737 guns surpasses the previous record of 6,542 guns that were discovered at TSA checkpoints in 2022. That 2022 record broke the previous record of 5,972 guns recovered in 2021, according to TSA.
Flyers caught trying to bring firearms in their carry-on baggage can face arrest or citations from local law enforcement.
Passengers can also face civil penalties from the TSA up to almost $15,000 and risk losing their TSA PreCheck eligibility for five years.
ABC News’ Amanda Maile contributed to this report.
(MEMPHIS) — Memphis Police Chief Chief C.J. Davis could be voted out of her position, one year after the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis Police Department officers.
In a 7-6 vote, the Memphis City Council on Tuesday recommended that Davis not remain in her position, and that a full city council vote be held on Jan. 23 to make the ultimate determination of whether she will continue to be the police chief, according to the city council office.
In what was the first meeting between the newly-elected city council and Davis, the police chief was heavily criticized regarding her actions in the wake of Nichols’ death in January 2023.
Some council members claimed that Davis failed to order the Memphis Police Department to follow city ordinances passed following Nichols’ death, which were enacted to stop pretextual traffic stops. Nichols was stopped by police the night of Jan. 7, 2023, when he was beaten for reasons that were not observable on the officers’ body camera footage.
“I’m not a liar, I don’t have to be a liar,” Davis declared at the city council meeting. “I went to work for this council [after the ordinances were passed], I navigated the politics, I navigated the state law, the federal law, and the position of our officers receiving mixed messages.”
Newly-elected Memphis Mayor Paul Young, who was not in office during the police encounter with Nichols last year, urged the city council to give him the opportunity to work with Davis and allow her to stay at her post.
“I understand that there was a little tension between the administration and the prior city council,” Young said at the council meeting Tuesday. “And what I want to say to you is that this is a new slate. You all have never worked with me as mayor before and I want to have a collaborative relationship to agree collectively on those results.”
Nichols, 29, died on Jan. 10, 2023, three days after his violent confrontation with police following the Jan. 7 traffic stop.
A subsequent federal indictment alleges that the five officers involved in the incident – Desmond Mills Jr., Tadarrius Bean, Demetrius Haley, Justin Smith, and Emmitt Martin III – deprived Nichols of numerous rights under color of law during the confrontation.
Mills pleaded guilty to federal civil rights and conspiracy offenses. The other four defendants pleaded not guilty to the federal charges. They still face a federal trial scheduled for May 6, 2024, according to the Department of Justice.
The Memphis Police Department fired the five officers, who were part of the department’s since-disbanded SCORPION unit, following an investigation into Nichols’ death.
ABC News’ Stephanie Wash and Meredith Deliso contributed to this story.
An Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 plane is parked on the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport on Jan. 8, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Daniel Slim/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Passengers who were on board an Alaska Airlines plane say that they thought “we were going to die” after a door plug flew off of the Boeing 737 Max 9 jet at an altitude of 16,000 feet last Friday.
Sieysoar Un and her 12-year-old son Josaih McCaul were sitting in the row right behind the door plug when it flew off the plane, taking Josiah’s phone and stuffed animal with it, the passengers said during an interview on ABC News’ Good Morning America Wednesday morning.
“I reached over and held his hand. We literally thought that we were going to die,” Un said in the GMA interview.
“You just hear a big boom,” said McCaul. “It was silent for like one second, and then you would just feel and hear a lot of air blowing around, freezing cold air.”
The part fell off the plane, a Boeing 737 Max 9, around 5:11 p.m. local time Friday as the aircraft with 171 passengers, including three babies and four unaccompanied minors, had climbed to 16,000 feet after taking off from Portland International Airport, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Another passenger, a mother of a 15-year-old boy who lost his shirt, said that as the cabin began to depressurize, she saw her son’s seat being pulled toward the hole in the plane’s fuselage.
“I reached over and grabbed his body and pulled him towards me over the armrest,” she said. “I did not realize until after the flight that his clothing had been torn off of his upper body,” adding that the noise of the door plug coming off sounded like a “bomb exploding.”
Meanwhile, Boeing says the company is now working with that National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration to make sure this never happens again.
“We’re going to approach this number one acknowledging our mistake,” said Boeing’s president and CEO, Dave Calhoun. “We’re going to approach it with 100% complete transparency every step of the way.”
The FAA has said the planes will remain grounded for now and that “the safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 Max to service.”
(NEW YORK) — The focus of the investigation into last Friday’s midair emergency on an Alaska Airlines flight is focused on the single aircraft, but could be broadened as the National Transportation Safety Board learns more, board Chief Jennifer Homendy said.
“However, at some point, we may need to go broader. But right now we have to figure out how this occurred with this aircraft,” Homendy said Tuesday on ABC News’ Good Morning America.
The door plug fell off the plane, a Boeing 737 Max 9, around 5:11 p.m. local time last Friday as the aircraft with 171 passengers, including three babies and four unaccompanied minors, had climbed to 16,000 feet after taking off from Portland International Airport, according to the NTSB.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Tuesday, “Every Boeing 737-9 Max with a plug door will remain grounded until the FAA finds each can safely return to operation.”
“The safety of the flying public, not speed, will determine the timeline for returning the Boeing 737-9 Max to service,” the FAA said.
Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun told employees on Tuesday that the company is “going to approach” the situation starting by “acknowledging our mistake.”
“We’re going to approach it with 100% and complete transparency every step of the way,” Calhoun said during a meeting with employees at the 737 production facility in Renton, Washington. “We are going to work with the NTSB who is investigating the accident itself to find out what the cause is.”
Boeing said it continues to be in “close contact” with its customers and the FAA about required inspections of certain 737 Max 9 planes.
“As part of the process, we are making updates based on their feedback and requirements,” the company said in a statement Tuesday.
The fittings at the top of the door plug fractured, Homendy said. The NTSB examination has shown that those fittings were fractured, allowing the plug door to move upward and outward, she said.
“We don’t know if the bolts were loose. We don’t know if bolts were in there fractured or possibly the bolts weren’t there at all,” she said. “We have to determine that back in our laboratory.”
On Monday, United Airlines said it had found loose bolts on its 737 Max 9 fleet during inspections ordered after Friday’s incident involving an Alaska Airlines flight.
The Federal Aviation Administration said Saturday it was temporarily grounding certain Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft operated by U.S. airlines or in U.S. territory until they were inspected. The FAA said the pause would affect about 171 planes worldwide.
Homendy said Tuesday she would feel safe flying on a 737 Max 9 now.
“I would feel safe flying right now,” Homendy said. “Our aviation system is the safest in the world.”
The White House also said Americans should “feel safe flying” following the incident.
“FAA’s number one priority is the safety of Americans,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters during a briefing on Tuesday. “The fact that these Boeing aircraft are going to be grounded is important, right? That is taking the safety of Americans first.”
Asked if the White House primarily sees this as a Boeing or FAA issue, she said, “We don’t know yet.”
“We have to do an investigation to see exactly what occurred here,” she said.
(NEW YORK) — Severe weather across the United States on Tuesday has left at least five people dead, according to local authorities, and the latest forecast shows more winter storms are on the way.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in Wisconsin said one person was killed in a car crash due to poor road conditions amid snowfall on Tuesday morning.
Another car crash killed a 35-year-old woman in Webber Township, Michigan, on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office, which urged residents to stay home that day due to “extremely slushy and treacherous” road conditions.
In Cottonwood, Alabama, an 81-year-old woman was killed on Tuesday morning when a possible tornado blew her mobile home over multiple times while she was inside, according to the Houston County Medical Examiner and Coroner.
Another person was killed on Tuesday when severe weather damaged multiple residences at a mobile home park in Claremont, North Carolina, and the National Weather Service is evaluating where a tornado occurred in the area, according to the Catawba County Government.
In Jonesboro, Georgia, a tree fell on the windshield of a car on Tuesday, killing the driver, according to the Clayton County Police Department.
Since Monday, at least 23 tornadoes have been reported in six states — Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina and North Carolina, according to the National Weather Service. Many of them occurred in Florida’s Panhandle on Monday night and Tuesday morning as a major storm system moved across the country. That same system brought winds as high as 65 miles per hour to the Northeast and up to 15 inches of snow to the Midwest.
Hundreds of thousands of customers were without power nationwide on Wednesday morning, particularly in the northeastern states of New York and Pennsylvania, according to data collected by PowerOutage.us.
While the worst of those storms moves out of the Northeast on Wednesday, another cross-country weather system is in the forecast for this week and has already dumped as many as 30 inches of snow in the Pacific Northwest.
The system is expected to move through the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada mountain range on Wednesday and Thursday, leaving several feet of snow, before swinging east and producing another severe weather outbreak from Texas to the Carolinas, with the possibility of tornadoes.
Another major snowstorm is expected in the north with up to a foot of snowfall from Nebraska to Michigan.
Storms are forecast to move into the Northeast on Friday night and Saturday morning, bringing more heavy rain and strong winds with the potential for flooding.
U.S. Coast Guard photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Diana Sherbs
(NEW YORK) — The crew of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Margaret Norvell seized over a ton of cocaine with an estimated street value of more than $32.2 million dollars on Tuesday, according to authorities.
The two separate seizures, which took place in international waters of the Caribbean Sea, totalled 2,450 pounds of cocaine and led to the arrest of six smugglers, according to a statement by the United States Coast Guard following the incident.
“Thanks to the tremendous efforts of the Coast Guard crews and agency partners involved with this interdiction, Coast Guard Cutter Margaret Norvell brought these suspected smugglers and illicit contraband ashore for prosecution,” said Lt. Cmdr. Colin Weaver, Commanding Officer. “Coast Guard crews continue to deliver on our important missions of homeland and maritime security to save lives and thwart transnational criminal organizations operating in the Caribbean.”
The six suspected smugglers that were apprehended will now face prosecution in federal courts by the Department of Justice.
“These interdictions relate to Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces designated investigations. OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach,” the U.S. Coast Guard said.
The seizures involved crews from the USCG Cutter Richard Dixon, the USCG Cutter Dauntless and the Joint Interagency Task Force South.
“Detecting and interdicting illegal drug traffickers on the high seas involves significant interagency and international coordination. The Joint Interagency Task Force South in Key West, Florida conducts the detection and monitoring of aerial and maritime transit of illegal drugs,” officials said.
“Once interdiction becomes imminent, the law enforcement phase of the operation begins, and control of the operation shifts to the U.S. Coast Guard throughout the interdiction and apprehension,” said the U.S Coast Guard. “Interdictions in the Caribbean Sea are performed by members of the U.S. Coast Guard under the authority and control of the Coast Guard’s Seventh District, headquartered in Miami.”
