Victory at Sea: US Seizes $8 Billion in Cocaine from Smugglers

Ocean smuggling routes targeted

Jul 14, 2025

A US Coast Guard boarding party destroys a drug smuggler's boat after seizing its load as part of "Operation Martillo."(US Southern Command photo)

US Navy and Coast Guard crews, leading an international effort to choke off drug smuggling routes from Central America, have recently seized almost 8 billion dollars of cocaine, weighing in at more than 329 tons, in less than 9 months. That's more than 266 million doses of cocaine that will never reach US streets!

A US Navy destroyer stands by as US Law Enforcement personnel commandeer a semi-submersible smuggling vessel hauling cocaine. (US Southern Command photo)

These huge cocaine smuggling busts are the result of "Operation Martillo" targeting illicit trafficking routes in coastal waters along the Central American isthmus, led by the US Southern Command's "Joint Interagency Task Force South" (JITFS), a component of U.S. Southern Command.

Meanwhile, in the Pacific Ocean, the crew of the US Navy Destroyer USS Sampson on patrol for the U.S. Northern Command, recently encountered a smuggling vessel hauling 7,850 pounds of cocaine worth of cocaine worth $58.1 million. The three smugglers piloting the boat were arrested, and their vessel was destroyed at sea.

7,850 pounds of cocaine worth $58.1 million, on the deck of the USS Samson after being seized in the Eastern Pacific. — 7,850 pounds of cocaine worth $58.1 million, on the deck of the USS Samson, after being seized in the Eastern Pacific. (US Navy photo)

While the US Navy and Coast Guard patrol off both the East and West coasts to catch smugglers, so does US Customs & Border Protection (CBP). The airplane pictured below was pursued by a CBP P-3 patrol aircraft over the Caribbean and found to be carrying 880 pounds of cocaine when it landed and was seized by International Law Enforcement partners at an undisclosed location. All three smugglers aboard the plane were taken into custody.

This airplane, smuggling 880 pounds of cocaine, was pursued in the Caribbean by a US CBP P-3 patrol aircraft and intercepted when it landed. (US Customs & Border Protection photo)

Closer to US Shores, the Coast Guard last week broke up another smuggling run when it responded to a disabled vessel off the coast of San Diego, California. The seven aboard were found to be illegal aliens from Mexico and Chile (two of them are unaccompanied minors). They were turned over to Border Patrol Agents.