The dramatic interdiction was carried out by the crew of the USCGC Munro, a 418-foot Legend-class national security cutter based in Alameda, California. Operating hundreds of miles south of Mexico, the Munro’s team spotted a suspicious “go-fast” vessel — a low-profile speedboat commonly used by drug cartels to evade detection. When the boat refused orders to stop and attempted to flee at over 40 knots, a Coast Guard MH-65 Dolphin helicopter from the elite Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) was deployed.
In a textbook precision operation captured on video, an airborne sniper fired targeted shots into the engines, disabling the vessel without causing injury. A boarding team from the Munro then stormed the boat, apprehended four suspected traffickers, and discovered dozens of bales of cocaine carefully concealed throughout the hull. The street value of the seizure is estimated at nearly $500 million, representing more than 7.5 million potentially lethal doses that will now never reach American communities.
The operation took place under Operation Pacific Viper, an aggressive Trump administration initiative launched in August 2025 to surge Coast Guard and naval assets into the Eastern Pacific drug transit zone. The intensified campaign has already produced extraordinary results: in just four months, Pacific Viper has removed over 100,000 pounds of cocaine from circulation — triple the average annual haul before the surge began.
In a statement posted on social media on Saturday, the Coast Guard declared:
“Our maritime fighting force is leading America’s drug interdiction operations, protecting the Homeland, and keeping deadly drugs out of American communities. This is where defense of America begins.”
The four detained suspects — all Colombian nationals — were transferred to federal authorities in San Diego and now face life imprisonment if convicted on maritime narcotics trafficking charges. The disabled smuggling vessel was intentionally sunk at sea to prevent its reuse by criminal networks.
This week’s haul surpasses the previous single-vessel record of 19,800 pounds set in 2007, highlighting both the growing audacity of cartel operations and the enhanced capabilities of the modern Coast Guard fleet. The Munro, equipped with advanced sensors, two helicopters, and a highly trained crew of 120, has become one of the most effective drug-busting platforms in the Pacific.
Since Pacific Viper began, the Coast Guard has conducted dozens of similar high-speed pursuits and boardings, often in rough seas and complete darkness. Crew members routinely fast-rope from helicopters onto moving vessels, facing armed smugglers willing to jettison cargo or attempt ramming maneuvers to escape capture.
The Eastern Pacific remains the primary pipeline for cocaine entering the United States, with an estimated 70–80 percent of all shipments bound for North America transiting these waters. Cartels have responded to increased pressure by deploying semi-submersible “narco-subs,” drone-assisted scouting, and larger mother ships that launch multiple go-fast boats simultaneously. Despite these adaptations, the sustained presence of cutters like the Munro, backed by Navy surveillance aircraft and real-time intelligence from partner nations, has forced traffickers into longer, riskier routes and dramatically driven up their operational costs.
The human impact is impossible to overstate. Every kilogram seized represents lives saved from addiction, violence, and overdose. The fentanyl crisis alone claimed more than 100,000 American lives last year, and while most fentanyl now arrives via the southwest border, cocaine remains the cartels’ primary revenue engine — funding the very smuggling networks that traffic synthetic opioids.
Back in Alameda on Friday, the Munro’s crew received a hero’s welcome as forklifts unloaded pallet after pallet of seized cocaine under heavy guard. For many of the younger sailors and aviators, it was their first major bust. Veteran petty officers, however, know the fight is far from over.
As one Munro crew member told reporters while standing beside towering stacks of confiscated drugs: “We took a huge bite out of their profits this week, but they’ll send another boat tomorrow. So we’ll be back out there next month — because this is what we do.”
With Operation Pacific Viper showing no signs of slowing and additional cutters rotating into the theater, the Coast Guard has sent a clear message: the United States is no longer content to fight the war on drugs only at its borders. The new front line is a thousand miles at sea — and America’s maritime guardians are winning battles there, one record-breaking seizure at a time.
