The Coast Guard offloaded a record-breaking haul with an estimated worth of nearly $500 million. Over the course of two months, officials say they seized more than 61,000 pounds of cocaine.

Fort Lauderdale

The U.S. Coast Guard has completed a significant drug interdiction operation, offloading more than 76,000 pounds of illegal narcotics, including cocaine, marijuana, and fentanyl precursors. The seized drugs, valued at nearly $500 million, resulted from 19 separate maritime seizures over two months in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea. Authorities detained 34 suspected traffickers and intercepted 11 speed boats during the operation.

This large-scale effort is part of a broader U.S. strategy to combat drug cartels, which includes recent military deployments and legal actions against cartel leaders. The Coast Guard reports that 80% of illegal drugs are now intercepted at sea, reflecting the increasing use of maritime routes by traffickers. The operation coincided with the guilty plea of Sinaloa cartel founder Ismael Zambada Garcia in New York, marking another significant development in ongoing anti-drug efforts.

Breaking down the Coast Guard's massive $500 million drug busts

We begin tonight with the massive drug busts on the high seas. Today, the Coast Guard offloaded a record-breaking haul with an estimated worth of nearly $500 million. Over the course of two months, officials say they seized more than 61,000 pounds of cocaine. It's part of an escalating crackdown on drug cartels and Homeland Security correspondent Nicole Skanga joins me now to tell me about it. Nicole, what was the operation that led to this haul? Yeah, John, more than 76,000 pounds of illegal narcotics valued, as you said it there, nearly half a billion dollars and it was the result of 19 different maritime seizures in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean Sea, dating back to June. The U.S. Coast Guard says the drugs seized represent 23 million potentially lethal doses, enough to kill everyone in the state of Florida. The majority of that was cocaine, but other drugs included marijuana and the building blocks of fentanyl. On top of that, the crew stopped 11, what's called go-fast vessels, speed boats and detained 34 suspected drug traffickers. If these numbers seem shocking for a two-month operation, they shouldn't be. An explosion in the global container shipping business has allowed narco-traffickers to take to the high seas, fueling Europe and other countries' growing appetite for cocaine. The Coast Guard says 80% of all illegal drugs are now seized by authorities in this way. And so, Nicole, how does this fit into the administration's larger drug enforcement operations? Yeah, earlier this month, President Trump signed a secret directive authorizing the Pentagon to use military force against some Latin American drug cartels. And just last week, we saw the first few signs of that action, the U.S. deploying three destroyers off the waters of Venezuela. President Trump has long blamed the cartels for the fentanyl pipeline into U.S. communities, stirring violence. The decision to bring not only the Coast Guard, but other branches of the U.S. military into this fight, though, is notable. It raises a number of legal questions. For instance, what happens if the U.S. forces injure or kill civilians outside of a congressionally authorized armed conflict? What is clear today is the U.S. government is waging this war on drugs on multiple fronts. In fact, just this afternoon, the attorney general announced Ismael Zambada Garcia, the infamous founder of the Sinaloa cartel, pled guilty in New York to drug trafficking following his capture last year. On this Monday in August, John, those are two big wins in a battle we've spent decades losing.

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