Coast Guard cutter Bertholf, which calls Alameda's Coast Guard Island home, recently took part in a drug bust off the coast of Guatemala. During the operation members of the Bertholf's crew seized two fishing boats called pangas and recovered a bale of cocaine. They also arrested four suspected drug smugglers.

The bust was the first for the Bertholf, which was commissioned Veterans Day 2006, and is named for former Revenue Cutter Service and Coast Guard Commandant Ellsworth P. Bertholf. The ship is the first of the Coast Guard's eight new National Security cutters.

Bertholf's interceptor boats seized the pangas and arrested their crews, who could be turned over to the Department of Justice for prosecution.