The U.S. Coast Guard offloaded millions of dollars’ worth of cocaine at Port Everglades, making it one of the largest seizures by a single ship during a single mission in history, officials said Wednesday morning.
Several government officials were in attendance as the USCG offloaded more than 49,000 pounds of cocaine, at an estimated $362 million.
“What you see behind me is more than just a pile of cocaine,” said Commander of U.S. Coast Guard Atlantic Area, Vice Adm. Nathan Moore. “It represents a tangible victory in our ongoing fight against transnational criminal organizations and narco terrorism.”
Officials said this is a result of 15 separate interceptions by the crews of U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stone, along with aircrews and partner agencies in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Moore had a strong message to the cartel dealers, saying, “We own this sea, not you. We will find you, we will hunt you before you harm anyone on our shores.”
Seizing drugs from the global supply chain saves lives, officials say
Coast Guard officials said more than 20,000 Americans die from cocaine related deaths a year.
“Removing this much cocaine from the global supply chain does more than interrupt a shipment,” said Terry Cole, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “It weakens entire organizations. It protects communities throughout the United States and across the region. It saves lives.”
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard thanked President Trump: “The success that we are seeing here today is what happens when we have a commander in chief who empowers leaders, coast guard, men and women, our service members across the force, our intelligence analysts and professionals to do the job that they signed up to do.”
The captain of the ship at the center of the mission explained what happened to the presumed smugglers.
“We used our armed helicopter to stop the vessels,” Commanding Officer of Coast Guard Cutter Stone, Capt. Anne O’Connell said. “We take the smugglers or presumed smugglers on board our ship as detainees, and then we confiscate the contraband, and then they are turned over either to they’ve been turned over to Ecuador or their country of origin for prosecution.”
The majority of the cocaine is coming out of Colombia and Ecuador.
Recent Coast Guard seizures
This is the latest in a string of offloads by USCG, including the largest in history when crews offloaded over 38 tons of cocaine and marijuana in August 2025. Officials said that amount was “enough to fatally overdose the entire population of Florida.”
The last offload occurred in October 2025, which netted over $94 million worth of drugs.
USCG reported most of the seizures over the spring:
- May 29: The Coast Guard offloaded more than 28,500 pounds of cocaine worth $211.3 million at Port Everglades following four successful interdictions in the Eastern Pacific.
- May 10: Coast Guard crews recovered 3,984 pounds of cocaine from a bale field 660 miles south of Acapulco, Mexico.
- May 6: An embarked helicopter crew observed vessels discarding bales, leading to the retrieval of 14,559 pounds of cocaine from three bale fields 575 miles southwest of Acapulco, Mexico.
- May 5: Crews recovered 9,993 pounds of cocaine from a bale field 475 miles southwest of Colima, Mexico.
- May 3: A patrol aircraft spotted two suspicious vessels 170 miles west of Mexico, leading to the interdiction of 4,630 pounds of cocaine, with most transferred to Ecuadorian authorities.
Officials said that 80% of U.S.-bound narcotics seizures occur at sea, underscoring the significance of maritime interdictions.
