Coast Guard seizes 60,000 ecstasy tablets

PORT ANGELES, Wash., Aug. 30 (UPI) -- The U.S. Coast Guard found a duffel bag containing more than 60,000 ecstasy tablets during an arrest on Washington's Neah Bay, police say.

Neah Bay Public Safety Chief Sam White said his police department was involved in the operation that resulted in the discovery of the drugs possibly worth up to $1 million and the arrest of a Washington man, The Seattle Times said Sunday.

Authorities allege in a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court that U.S. Coast Guard officials found the ecstasy tablets on board an 18-foot North River boat carrying Reed McCarty, 21.

The Coast Guard stopped the vessel in the Strait of Juan de Fuca early Thursday night after the vessel crossed into state waters.

The Times said the Canada-U.S. border in the Washington state area has become a popular spot for drug traffickers to attempt to transport their goods into the United States.

The ecstasy seizure comes less than two weeks after 132 pounds of high-grade marijuana was found on a 30-foot boat by federal Customs and Border Protection agents near Washington's San Juan Island.