U.S. authorities are closing out July with another round of big drug and cash seizures that are hitting cartel smuggling operations in their pocketbooks. The largest seizures occurred at sea, carried out by the crew of the US Coast Guard Cutter Tahoma during a Pacific Ocean Law Enforcement Patrol Mission.
The Tahoma docked on Tuesday, July 29, 2025, at Port Everglades, Florida, to offload 9,970 pounds of cocaine worth $73.7 million seized from smugglers during its patrol. The Tahoma is a 270-foot Famous-class medium endurance cutter homeported in Newport, Rhode Island.
Elsewhere in Florida, US Customs & Border Protection (CBP) Officers recently interrupted a smuggling run from Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas, seizing $185,000 in cash and more than one and a half kilos of marijuana aboard a boat there.
"We seized the goods (and) iced the plans. Turns out crime doesn’t travel well, especially when it’s packed in a cooler." - Carlos C. Martel, Director of Field Operations for the CBP in the Miami/Tampa Field Office.
Meanwhile, from Vermont comes word of the July 21, 2025, sentencing of another would-be waterborne smuggler: A 40-year-old Rhode Island Man will serve almost five years in Federal Prison after United States Border Patrol (USBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents arrested him as he prepared to cast off in a kayak loaded with 12 kilos of heroin for delivery to a waiting boat on Lake Champlain which was to take the drug load to Canada.
Back on land, cartel smugglers aren't having an easier time moving their loads through Border Patrol Checkpoints. In South Texas, a trucker-turned-smuggler was sniffed out by the keen nose of a Border Patrol K-9 at the Sarita Checkpoint on US Highway 77 on July 26, 2025.
Border Patrol Agents ran the truck through an X-ray system, which quickly detected a large amount of drugs hidden in the cab's ceiling. The cocaine load weighed in at 72 pounds with a street value of $2.3 million.
In New Mexico, Border Patrol Agents at the Las Cruces Checkpoint on Interstate 25 on July 23, 2025, alerted to the nervous behavior of a driver summoned for a K9 who took a strong interest in the truck's gas tanks. Agents took a look inside and found 48 bundles of meth weighing over 52 pounds with a street value of almost $1.5 million.
So far this year, 13,945 pounds of narcotics have been seized at US Border Patrol checkpoints in the interior US.
In San Diego, CBP Agents at an International Crossing from Mexico into California made a significant meth seizure as well. They seized 166.18 pounds of meth hidden in a vehicle's rocker panels and arrested the U.S. citizen attempting to smuggle the drug load into the country.
What impact do you think these smuggling seizures and arrests are having on Cartel Drug Operations?
Share your opinion in the comments to this article.
Abrazos,
Jack Beavers
Jack, I am shocked to hear about the drug smuggling. So glad to hear of our Border Patrol and Border Security agents. Thank you for educating us about this.
Shout out to the US Coast Guard and CBP 🩷‼️👊