Pink is the new white – at least in the international, dynamic domain of synthetic drugs.A potent powder known among users and traffickers as 'pink cocaine' is gaining traction in the United States, including in New York and California, where authorities seized more than 140 pounds of the high-powered hallucinogenic during a four-month patrol off the coasts Central and South America ending in early June, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.
Five suspects now face charges in California in connection to the patrol, federal prosecutors told Newsweek.Rear Admiral Andrew Sugimoto, commander of the Coast Guard's 11th district, praised Munro's crew for 'disrupting organized crime' during its multi-mission deployment.'The effort put in while interdicting more than 33,000 pounds of cocaine in a few weeks' time is unparalleled,' Sugimoto said in a statement as the massive haul was offloaded in San Diego on May 28.