ATLANTA, GA- The United States Coast Guard, along the with the British Royal Navy intercepted a boat carrying an estimated $55 Million worth of cocaine off the coast of Venezuela, said US Coast Guard officials today.

The US Coast Guard team, based in Miami, were aboard the Royal Navy Frigate HMS Iron Duke when they located a suspicious ” go-fast” vessel on July 16 .The dual operation then launched a Lynx Helicopter to investigate the small boat. According to authorities, the crews then boarded the vessel, detained four men, and recovered 36 bales of cocaine thrown overboard.

While significant because it was a successful raid on a high dollar amount of cocaine ,that likely would have ended up in the streets of US and Europe, the amount actually falls into the “average” category in illegal narcotics seized by the Coast Guard, according to spokesman, LT commander Matt Moorlag from the USGC.

Moorlag would not confirm if the drugs seized, or the men detained came from Venezuela. According to US authorities with knowledge of narcotic smuggling operations in South America, Venezuela has increasingly been used as an embarking point for the illegal narcotic trade.

-Eben Brown contributed to this report