Our First Catch of the Day...

Exciting stuff:

The littoral combat ship Freedom seized a quarter-ton of cocaine in the Caribbean on Monday in its first encounter with smugglers during a “trial deployment” to the 4th Fleet area of operations, according to the Navy.

When U.S. and international observers spotted a “go-fast boat” outside Colombian territorial waters, the Navy said, Freedom launched its MH-60S Seahawk helicopter, which flew over the drug runners and prompted them to dump their drugs overboard. The boat turned and crossed into Colombian waters, where the Colombian navy took up the chase.

Information released by the U.S. Navy on Tuesday did not make clear whether the drug runners had ultimately been arrested. But the Navy did say the Freedom’s crew pulled the dumped bales of cocaine from the water and will keep them on board as evidence in case prosecutors try to bring the smugglers to trial.