Overview
- USCGC Tampa offloaded the 3,825‑pound haul Thursday at Base Miami Beach, which the Coast Guard values at more than $28.7 million and describes as enough to kill over 1.4 million people.
- The cocaine came from two interdictions in international waters of the Eastern Pacific carried out under Operation Pacific Viper.
- The missions involved the Cutter Tampa, the Coast Guard’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, Joint Interagency Task Force South, and watchstanders in the Southeast and Southwest districts.
- Joint Interagency Task Force South conducts detection and tracking, then the Coast Guard assumes control for the law‑enforcement phase once an interdiction is imminent.
- Since the surge began in early August, the Coast Guard reports seizing more than 215,000 pounds of cocaine and detaining 160 suspected traffickers, and says about 80% of U.S.-bound drug interdictions occur at sea.