( CNN ) -- Authorities intercepted two speedboats -- sinking one -- and recovered thousands of pounds of cocaine worth more than $ 500 million . `` These two disruptions are an example of the international cooperative law enforcement effort to disrupt transnational criminal activity and deny their profiting from such activity , '' Doug Garner , U.S. Customs and Border Protection 's director of national air security operations in Jacksonville , Florida , said in a news release . The Memorial Day weekend drug bust , which was announced Wednesday , resulted from two separate interdiction efforts , the first unfolding Friday north of the Galapagos Islands , west of Ecuador in the Pacific Ocean . A Customs and Border Protection Office of Air and Marine crew spotted a 30-foot speedboat . After realizing that they 'd been spotted , three people on the boat started chucking packages of cocaine into the water . They also `` began washing the boat to eliminate traces of cocaine , '' the release said . In small-town USA , business as usual for cartels . A law enforcement helicopter , responding to a call from the Customs and Border Protection crew , tracked down the boat and fired shots to disable it . Three suspects were arrested as the boat sunk into the ocean , according to the release . `` This joint effort denied criminal organizations more than $ 82 million dollars from cocaine proceeds , '' it said . The next evening , a Customs and Border Protection crew in the Western Caribbean saw a three-engine speedboat moving rapidly near the Panamanian-Colombian border . The boat 's driver tried to evade police by moving closer to the Panamanian coastline and maneuvering `` in and out of shoals and other obstructions , '' according to the agency . Colombia arrests fake nuns with cocaine under their habits . The crew told Panamanian police to intercept the boat , which was carrying bundles of cocaine weighing more than 6,000 pounds . Authorities estimate their value at more than $ 445 million . The Customs and Border Protection Office of Air and Marine P-3 crews patrol a 42 million-square-mile swath of the Western Caribbean and Eastern Pacific in search of drugs destined for U.S. shores . In fiscal 2012 , P-3 crews seized almost 59 tons of cocaine valued at $ 8.8 billion . Two brothers , two uncles accused of trafficking cocaine to Italy . Official : Hong Kong drug operation hauls $ 98 million worth of cocaine . Australian police seize $ 246 million worth of drugs smuggled inside steamroller .
Memorial Day weekend seizures yield cocaine worth more than $ 500 million . In first of two busts , authorities had to fire on and sink boat to apprehend three suspects . Second bust involved chase in and out of shoals along Panamanian coastline . Comment: