The U.S. Coast Guard’s latest narcotics interdiction involved three suspected smuggling vessels carrying approximately 6,085 pounds of cocaine worth nearly $45.8 million, the service announced Thursday.
The announcement comes on the heels of a banner 2025 year for the Coast Guard, which seized a record-high of more than 511,000 pounds of cocaine—more than three times the service’s annual average. Other successful efforts have been attributed to counter-narcotics operations through Operation Pacific Viper, which was launched in August 2025 to combat drug smuggling and narco-terrorism in the Eastern Pacific Ocean by using aircraft, cutters and tactical teams to disrupt trafficking routes from South and Central America known for shipping cocaine and other illicit drugs.
As of April 2026, more than 215,000 pounds of cocaine have been seized since August due to Operation Pacific Viper, resulting in roughly 160 suspected narco-traffickers being apprehended. About 80% of drug interdictions occur at sea, per the Coast Guard.
