Operation Pacific Viper yields massive 20,000-pound cocaine seizure

EXCLUSIVE: The Coast Guard cutter Munro seized greater than 20,000 kilos of cocaine Tuesday throughout a single drug interdiction mission, the biggest seizure by a nationwide safety cutter involving a go-fast vessel.

New video footage shared with Fox Information Digital reveals Coast Guard forces, together with a sniper from the service’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON), primarily based in Jacksonville, Florida, utilizing incapacitating fireplace on a go-fast vessel because it completes a drug interdiction mission for Operation Pacific Viper.

The quantity of cocaine seized through the mission, which occurred within the jap Pacific Ocean south of Mexico, quantities to greater than 7.5 million probably deadly doses, in keeping with the company.

Launched in August, Operation Pacific Viper is a mixed Coast Guard and Navy initiative aimed toward stemming the circulation of unlawful medication into the US, according to President Donald Trump’s broader efforts to crack down on drug cartels in Latin America.

The Trump administration has taken a troublesome method to coping with medication getting into the US. (Coast Guard)

WATCH: COAST GUARD SEIZES COCAINE, SUSPECTED NARCO TERRORISTS IN PACIFIC VIPER RAID

In October, the Coast Guard reported capturing 100,000 kilos of cocaine within the jap Pacific throughout Operation Pacific Viper. In keeping with the company, that quantities to roughly 1,600 kilos of cocaine intercepted every day.

The snipers of the Coast Guard’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron are used on missions to take out ships transporting unlawful medication by pointing weapons at their engines and capturing them to cripple them. Taking out potential drug vessels clears the way in which for different Coast Guard property to board and seize the medication stashed on the boats.

Go-fast ships are common ships used to move medication within the Caribbean.

Secretary of Homeland Safety Kristi Noem (proper) pilots a U.S. Coast Guard response boat with the Maritime Safety Response Staff in San Diego, March 16, 2025. (Alex Brandon/Pool/AFP)

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The Coast Guard reported in November that it had seized almost 510,000 kilos of cocaine in fiscal yr 2025, the biggest quantity of the drug seized within the company’s historical past.

The quantity the company seized quantities to 193 million probably deadly doses, sufficient to hazard greater than half of the U.S. inhabitants, in keeping with the Coast Guard. Furthermore, it quantities to greater than thrice the company’s annual common, which equates to roughly 167,000 kilos of cocaine per yr.

The Trump administration has taken a crackdown on medication getting into the US, designating drug cartel teams corresponding to Tren de Aragua, Sinaloa and others as overseas terrorist organizations in February.

Coast Guard cutter Seneca interdicted 5,500 kilos of cocaine northeast of the Galápagos Islands on September 10, 2025, as a part of Operation Pacific Viper. (Division of Homeland Safety)

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Separate from Operation Pacific Viper, the Trump administration has additionally carried out no less than 22 assaults on suspected drug ships in Latin American waters since September.

Whereas lawmakers have questioned the legality of the assaults — particularly after the White Home revealed {that a} second assault on a ship was carried out in September after the primary left survivors — the Trump administration has mentioned it has the authority to hold out these assaults.

Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, DY, and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.; Adam Schiff, D-California; and Rand Paul, R-Ky., launched a battle powers decision on Wednesday aimed toward blocking Trump from utilizing U.S. army forces to have interaction in hostilities inside or towards Venezuela.

In the meantime, Secretary of Conflict Pete Hegseth has indicated that the strikes will proceed.

“We now have solely simply begun attacking narco-boats and planting narco-terrorists on the backside of the ocean as a result of they’ve poisoned the American individuals,” Hegseth mentioned Tuesday.