A US Coast Guard vessel intercepted three drug-smuggling boats simultaneously in the Caribbean Sea on Thursday (local time) and seized over three tons of cocaine.
Citing a Coast Guard statement, CBS News said the crew of the Tahoma, a 270-foot cutter, made the intercepts about 90 miles off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia. To catch all three alleged drug boats at once, the Tahoma’s crew launched two small boats and deployed a helicopter.
Sharing an update on X, the US Coast Guard wrote: “The interdiction required disabling fire after warning shots proved ineffective. Tahoma’s crew apprehended 9 suspected drug smugglers after the operation and then scuttled the vessels as a hazard to navigation.”
How the alleged smugglers were apprehended
The Coast Guard said the alleged smugglers on board the ship being chased by helicopter were “not complying”. The Coast Guard crew used “aerial use of force tactics” to stop the vessel, which included precision sniper fire aimed at the boat’s engines. The suspects later jumped overboard and were rescued by the Coast Guard. However, there were no injuries.
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A video released by the U.S. Coast Guard showed a crew member firing in front of the vessel and throwing lifebuoys to the alleged smugglers after they jumped overboard.
Further, the alleged smugglers in the other two boats stopped only when ordered to do so by Coast Guard crew members in small boats.
According to the report, the Coast Guard did not specify how many people were arrested during the operation or whether the alleged smugglers aboard the three ships were cooperating.
The US Coast Guard seized 6,085 pounds of cocaine
The Coast Guard said the crew of the Tahoma seized 6,085 pounds of cocaine from three vessels. The drugs are said to be worth around $45 million and the ship’s crew will unload them at Port Everglades, Florida.
Photos released by the Coast Guard showed three suspected drug-smuggling ships in flames. A Coast Guard spokesman previously told CBS News that crews typically detain suspects, remove narcotics from detained vessels and then destroy the ships to prevent them from becoming a danger to other maritime traffic.
The Coast Guard added that at least 80 percent of narcotics seized in transit to the U.S. are typically found at sea. In 2025, the agency seized over 511,000 pounds of cocaine.
Tackling the drug trade is a top priority
Trump administration
In a separate incident reported earlier in April, the US military carried out strikes on an alleged drug-smuggling ship in the eastern Pacific Ocean, killing two people, the BBC reported, citing US Southern Command.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has identified curbing the flow of drugs into the US as one of its top priorities. Since September last year, deadly airstrikes targeting suspected drug-smuggling ships in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean have reportedly killed nearly 200 people.
Under the Trump administration, forces have launched dozens of strikes against boats they say are part of a large-scale operation to transport drugs to the US.
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The administration has also designated several drug cartels and transnational gangs as terrorist organizations. The Trump administration says the killing is legal. In a statement to Congress last year, the White House said Trump had “determined” that the United States was engaged in a formal armed conflict with drug cartels and that crews operating drug-smuggling boats were considered “combatants.”
