The US Coast Guard recently completed a monumental offload of illegal substances off the coast of Florida. This marks a historic achievement for the maritime law enforcement agency. The operation resulted in the largest single drug seizure in the organization’s one hundred and ten year history. The total haul amounted to more than seventy-six thousand pounds of narcotics, a quantity so vast it set a new precedent for counterdrug efforts.
The offloading took place at Port Everglades, where a combined weight of approximately sixty-one thousand seven hundred forty pounds of cocaine and fourteen thousand four hundred pounds of marijuana was brought ashore. This massive collection of illegal substances was estimated to have a total street value of nearly half a billion dollars, specifically four hundred seventy three million dollars, underscoring the immense scale of the operation and the financial impact on criminal networks.
The sheer volume of the seized cocaine was described in a News Release as posing a significant and lethal threat to the nation. An official from the branch’s southeast district noted that the twenty-three million potential lethal doses of cocaine alone were enough to fatally harm the entire population of the state of Florida. This grim comparison highlighted the serious danger that transnational drug trafficking poses to communities across the country.
The Coast Guard scored a big win in stopping drugs from moving into the nation
That’s right, the Coast Guard keeps this country safe from drugs and criminals; they’re not just there to investigate sub explosions and helicopter crashes. The successful interdictions were the culmination of an intensive multi-month effort carried out in international waters within the eastern Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.
A series of nineteen separate seizures occurred over a period spanning from late June to mid-August. This coordinated action was the result of a collaborative endeavor involving multiple vessels and specialized units.
Record drug haul seized by US Coast Guard was enough to ‘fatally overdose the entire population’ of Florida!!
— GGood job, US Coast Guard!!
(@ZestForBest) August 26, 2025
The mission was a testament to the power of interagency and international cooperation. The operations involved three Coast Guard cutters, two warships from the US Navy, and a Dutch naval vessel. Additionally, multiple interagency units, including those from the Department of Homeland Security, were instrumental in the success of the patrols. The confiscated drugs were consolidated and transported to the port aboard the Coast Guard cutter Hamilton.
The vessel’s commanding officer shared that his crew alone had an exceptionally productive period, having intercepted eleven go-fast vessels, taken thirty-four suspected drug traffickers into custody, and seized a substantial forty-seven thousand pounds of cocaine. Another officer from the Coast Guard said, “To be able to take positive steps to keep the United States safe from these drugs, it makes the difficult days worth it.”
R Adm Adam Chamie, commander of the branch’s south-east district said, “To put this into perspective, the potential 23m lethal doses of cocaine seized by the US 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.”
