U.S. Coast Guard
The U.S. Coast Guard made history on Monday when they offloaded a record 76,140 pounds of illicit narcotics with a street value of $473 million into Port Everglades, Florida.
This haul of ~61,740 pounds of cocaine and ~14,400 pounds of marijuana is said to represent approximately 23 million lethal doses of drugs removed from circulation, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. It was also the cumulative haul from 19 interdictions in international waters over the past two months and it doesn’t represent one specific haul.
U.S. Coast Guard Offloads 76,140 Pounds Of Narcotics In Florida
U.S. Coast Guard
This historic haul of drugs began on June 26 when the Coast Guard seized 8,800 pounds of cocaine from a vessel approximately 115 miles off the Galapagos Islands. The very next day, a maritime patrol aircraft spotted a suspicious vessel 125 miles southeast of the Galapagos Islands and the same USCG cutter, Hamilton, seized 4,330 pounds of cocaine from the suspicious vessel.
Three days later, 2,425 pounds of cocaine were seized 85 miles north of Bonaire by a detachment on the USS Cole. Four days later the Coast Guard seized 5,450 pounds of cocaine from a vessel 15 miles north of Aragua, Venezuela.
The list goes on, and on, and on. Of the 19 interdictions, the largest seizure was on July 23 when the Hamilton spotted a suspicious vessel 600 miles south of Acapulco, Mexico. The “HITRON aircrew employed airborne use of force tactics” to stop the vessel and they seized over 9,160 pounds of cocaine.
A Historic Year
The 76,140 pounds of illicit narcotics offloaded by the USCG brings the total for 2025 (in street value) to over $2.2 billion:
Speaking on the historic offloading of illicit narcotics in Port Everglades, Florida on Monday, Rear Adm. Adam Chamie, Coast Guard Southeast District commander said “the U.S. Coast Guard in partnership with our federal, DoD, and international partners are offloading 61,740 pounds of cocaine, and this represents a significant victory in the fight against transnational criminal organizations, highlighting our unwavering commitment to safeguarding the nation from illicit trafficking and its devastating impacts.
Rear Adm. Adam Chamie, Coast Guard Southeast District commander continued, adding “to put this into perspective, the potential 23 million lethal doses of cocaine seized by the U.S. Coast Guard and our partners, are enough to fatally overdose the entire population of the state of Florida, underscoring the immense threat posed by transnational drug trafficking to our nation”
It is hard to put context to numbers when they are so large but over $2.2 billion worth of street drugs off the streets is an incredible feat.