Coast Guard Seized Enough Cocaine in Eastern Pacific to Kill 1.4M Americans

The United States Coast Guard seized and offloaded enough cocaine to kill 1.4 million Americans.

The service announced that on Thursday its Guard Cutter Tampa’s crew offloaded approximately 3,825 pounds of cocaine at Base Miami Beach worth more than $28.7 million. The cocaine had been seized during two international water interdictions in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.

The Guard Cutter Tampa is a 270-foot medium endurance cutter homeported in Portsmouth, Va., under U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area Command.

"This crew's performance over the last 74 days has been nothing short of phenomenal," said Cmdr. Joshua DiPietro, commanding officer of Tampa, in a statement. "From qualifying several pilots, tie downs, landing safety officers, and helicopter control officers for aviation operations at the start of the patrol to seizing nearly $45 million in illicit narcotics, their teamwork during complex operations was truly impressive."

It was another big haul emanating from Operation Pacific Viper, a USCG initiative kickstarted in August 2025 to combat drug smuggling and narco-terrorism in the Eastern Pacific Ocean by way of aircraft, cutters and tactical teams disrupting trafficking routes from South and Central America that are known for shipping cocaine and other illicit drugs.

“They met every challenge head-on, working seamlessly with our partner agencies and international allies to disrupt transnational criminal organizations.”

Military.com reported in February how after six months of Operation Pacific Viper in effect, the Coast Guard had seized more than 200,000 pounds of cocaine from foreign drug traffickers and cartels. Officials have attributed these large hauls to the drug smuggling circuit, as roughly 80% of narcotics interdictions occur at sea.

As of today, more than 215,000 pounds of cocaine has been seized while 160 suspected narco-traffickers have been apprehended.

The Mission Continues With New DHS Lead

Officials said the cutter and these two specific seizures were aided by the following assets and crews:

• USCGC Tampa (WMEC 902)
• Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron
• Joint Interagency Task Force South
• Coast Guard Southeast District watchstanders
• Coast Guard Southwest District watchstanders

Efforts to interdict drug smuggling operations in open waters will continue under new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, who replaced ex-Secretary Kristi Noem in March following rampant criticism including drastic overspending of tax dollars for ad campaigns along with her handling of immigration-related killings in Minnesota.

Coast Guard officials said that seizures like these display how the United States could be inundated with a flow of illegal drugs if it were not for maritime interdiction by units like U.S. Southern Command’s Joint Interagency Task Force South, which is based in Key West and conducts the detection and monitoring of aerial and maritime transit of illicit drugs.

The Coast Guard performs interdictions in the Eastern Pacific Ocean under the authority and control of the Coast Guard’s Southwest District, headquartered in Alameda, Calif.