A Coast Guard sniper in a helicopter disabled three outboard motors that enabled the Coast Guard Cutter Munro seize 10 tons of cocaine from a drug vessel on Tuesday. File Photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Connie Terrell/U.S. Coast Guard
Dec. 6 (UPI) — The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Munro seized more than 10 tons of cocaine from a drug-running vessel south of Mexico in the eastern Pacific Ocean on Tuesday.
The seizure from an open-bowed vessel that was equipped with three large outboard motors is the largest drug interdiction done at sea in nearly two decades, CBS News reported.
The interdiction began with a sniper in a helicopter targeting and disabling the drug boat’s motor, which enabled the Munro’s crew to board it and capture its crew and drug cargo.
The mission was carried out as part of the military’s Operation Pacific Viper campaign against drug running on the open sea.
As part of the operation, the Coast Guard “has accelerated counter-narcotics operations across the eastern Pacific and delivered historic results in the fight against narco-terrorists,” Coast Guard officials said Friday in a post on X.
“Our maritime fighting force is leading America’s drug interdiction operations, protecting the homeland and keeping deadly drugs out of American communities,” Coast Guard officials said. “This is where defense of America begins.”
The amount of cocaine seized is capable of causing 7.5 million overdose deaths.
The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard initiated Operation Pacific Viper in August as part of President Donald Trump‘s effort to better protect U.S. citizens against illicit drugs and the cartels that smuggle them into the United States.
The Coast Guard in October reported seizing 100,000 pounds of cocaine in the eastern Pacific during the opening months of Operation Pacific Viper.
In November, the Coast Guard said it had seized more than 500,000 pounds of cocaine during the 2025 fiscal year, which ended on Sept. 30.
The amount seized during the fiscal year is the most ever taken in a year by the Coast Guard and more than three times its average annual take of 167,000 pounds of the drug.