The U.S. Coast Guard offloaded roughly 3,825 pounds of cocaine worth more than $28.7 million Thursday in Miami Beach, officials said.
The drugs were seized during two interdictions in international waters of the Eastern Pacific Ocean as part of Operation Pacific Viper, a multi-agency effort targeting narcotics trafficking routes between Central and South America and the United States.
Operation Pacific Viper targets major drug corridor
Coast Guard officials said the operation focuses on one of the primary corridors used by transnational criminal organizations to move cocaine northbound. Since its launch in early August 2025, crews have seized more than 215,000 pounds of cocaine and detained 160 suspected traffickers, officials said.
About 80% of U.S.-bound drug interdictions occur at sea, the Coast Guard said.
U.S. Coast Guard
Detection and monitoring operations are led by U.S. Southern Command’s Joint Interagency Task Force South in Key West. Once a vessel is identified and interdiction is imminent, the Coast Guard takes over the law enforcement phase, officials explained.
Crew praised after weeks-long deployment
Cmdr. Joshua DiPietro, commanding officer of the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Tampa, praised his crew’s performance during the 74-day patrol.
“This crew’s performance over the last 74 days has been nothing short of phenomenal,” DiPietro said in a statement. “They met every challenge head-on, working seamlessly with our partner agencies and international allies to disrupt transnational criminal organizations.”
The operation involved multiple units, including the Tampa, the Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, and watchstanders from both the Southeast and Southwest districts.
Officials said recent operations have yielded record-setting results, including a February seizure of 200,000 pounds of cocaine. Authorities say these efforts have denied criminal organizations billions of dollars in illicit revenue while reducing the flow of drugs into the United States.
The Coast Guard Cutter Tampa, a 270-foot medium endurance vessel homeported in Portsmouth, Virginia, operates under the Coast Guard’s Atlantic Area Command.
