A U.S. Coast Guard cutter intercepted three suspected smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and seized more than three tons of cocaine, officials said. The interdictions took place roughly 90 miles off Cartagena, Colombia, and were carried out by the crew of the 270-foot cutter Tahoma.
To stop all three boats at once, the Tahoma launched two small boats and dispatched an embarked helicopter. One pursuit became noncompliant, and Coast Guard aircrew employed aerial use-of-force tactics, including precision sniper fire aimed at the vessel’s engines, to disable it. After the engines were struck, those aboard jumped overboard; the Coast Guard rescued them with no reported injuries.
Video released by the service shows aircrew firing in front of the moving boat and then throwing rescue floats to people in the water. The other two suspected smuggling vessels complied with orders from Coast Guard small-boat teams and were boarded without force.
The Tahoma’s crew recovered 6,085 pounds of cocaine from the three boats — roughly $45 million worth, according to the agency. The seized narcotics will be offloaded at Port Everglades, Florida. Photos provided by the Coast Guard show the three suspected smuggling boats set ablaze; the service says suspected smuggling craft are typically cleared of people and contraband and then sunk so they do not threaten other maritime traffic.
The Coast Guard noted that about 80% of narcotics interdicted en route to the United States are found at sea. In 2025 the agency reported seizing more than 511,000 pounds of cocaine.
The operation comes amid a broader U.S. effort to disrupt drug flows from the region. Federal authorities have increased strikes on suspected smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific since last September, operations that officials say aim to stop narco-trafficking but that have also resulted in fatalities. The current administration has designated some cartels and transnational gangs as terrorist organizations as part of its strategy to combat illicit trafficking.
The Coast Guard did not immediately say how many people were detained or whether the three boats were operating together. The agency released a statement calling the coordinated interdiction a “triple threat” disruption of narco-smuggling at sea.