Major Cocaine Seizure by Coast Guard Cutter Munro

The Coast Guard Cutter Munro made an impressive seizure of over 20,000 pounds of cocaine during a recent enforcement mission, marking the largest haul ever recorded for a national security cutter involving a speedboat.

New video evidence shared with media outlets illustrates Coast Guard personnel, including snipers from the Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron based in Jacksonville, Florida, as they fired on a fast-moving vessel while executing a narcotics interdiction under Operation Pacific Viper.

During this mission, which unfolded in the eastern Pacific Ocean, south of Mexico, authorities reported the confiscation of more than 7.5 million potentially dangerous doses of cocaine.

Initiated in August, Operation Pacific Viper is a collaborative effort between the Coast Guard and Navy aimed at halting the influx of illegal drugs into the U.S. This initiative aligns with President Trump’s broader agenda to combat drug cartels in Latin America.

As of October, the Coast Guard announced that it had seized 100,000 pounds of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific under this operation, which breaks down to an average of around 1,600 pounds daily.

The snipers from HITRON have a critical role in these missions, targeting drug-laden vessels and disabling them by shooting at their engines. This tactic allows other Coast Guard teams to board the boats and secure the smuggled drugs.

Go-fast ships are frequently used to transport narcotics across the Caribbean, and the Coast Guard stated in November that it had confiscated approximately 510,000 pounds of cocaine in fiscal year 2025, setting a record for the agency.

This amount corresponds to about 193 million potentially deadly doses, enough to endanger a significant portion of the U.S. population. Remarkably, this seizure amount is more than three times the agency’s annual average of about 167,000 pounds.

The Trump administration has adopted a firm approach towards drug trafficking, classifying cartels like the Torren de Aragua and Sinaloa as foreign terrorist organizations back in February.

Aside from activities related to Operation Pacific Viper, the administration has executed at least 22 operations targeting suspected drug smuggling vessels in Latin American waters since September. While some lawmakers have raised concerns about the legality of these attacks, the administration maintains it has the authority for such actions, particularly following a second strike on a vessel that left survivors.

In response to these operations, Senate leaders, including Chuck Schumer and Tim Kaine, along with Adam Schiff and Rand Paul, proposed a war powers resolution aiming to limit President Trump’s military use in or against Venezuela.

Meanwhile, Army Secretary Pete Hegseth affirmed that the aggressive stance would persist, stating, “We just started attacking drug ships and putting narco-terrorists at the bottom of the ocean because they are poisoning the American people.”