The Coast Guard has seized more than 150,000 pounds of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific Ocean since August as part of Operation Pacific Viper, the agency said Tuesday. The illicit drugs were nabbed in multiple interdictions of alleged drug boats, including one record-breaking bust earlier this month.
In that incident, a “heavily laden” go-fast vessel was stopped with “disabling fire,” the Coast Guard said in a news release. The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Munro arrived and seized over 20,000 pounds of cocaine from the other boat, marking the agency’s largest at-sea interdiction since March 2007.
Video shared by the Coast Guard showed the alleged drug boat being stopped by a helicopter crew who fired shots toward the vessel. It’s not clear what happened to the crew of the go-fast boat.
The video also showed other Coast Guard seizures, including some clips of an unidentified crew apparently being taken into custody. Lynyrd Skinner’s 1976 song “Gimme Back My Bullets” played over the clips.
Throughout Operation Pacific Viper, the Coast Guard has sent additional assets, including cutters, aircraft and tactical teams, to the Eastern Pacific. About 80% of all U.S.-bound narcotics seizures occur at sea, according to the Coast Guard.
Another Coast Guard ship, a cutter named James, nabbed over 19,800 pounds of cocaine from four seizures conducted in mid-November. Another cutter offloaded over 49,000 pounds of illicit drugs, worth about $362 million, while in Florida in November.
The Coast Guard said the drugs seized over the course of the operation so far are worth more than $1.1 billion.
Seizing boats carrying illicit drugs starts at the U.S. Southern Command’s Joint Interagency Task Force-South in Key West, Florida, the Coast Guard said. The task force detects and monitors “both aerial and maritime transit of illegal drugs,” the agency said. Once it becomes clear that a ship will be intercepted, the Coast Guard takes control of the operation. The Coast Guard stops the ships, apprehends those aboard and seizes the illicit drugs.
“Operation Pacific Viper has proven to be a crucial weapon in the fight against foreign drug traffickers and cartels in Latin America and has sent a clear message that we will disrupt, dismantle and destroy their deadly business exploits wherever we find them,” U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in the Coast Guard’s news release. “In cutting off the flow of these deadly drugs, the Coast Guard is saving countless American lives and delivering on President Trump’s promise to Make America Safe Again and reestablish our maritime dominance.”
The U.S. government and other authorities have long fought to stop boats carrying drugs from Central and South America. The Trump administration has targeted some vessels with lethal strikes, killing dozens and drawing controversy. The administration has defended the strikes even as some questioned their legality, especially after a second strike was conducted on survivors of an incident on Sept. 2.