Coast Guard Cutter Seizes More Than $33 Million Worth of Cocaine in Easter Sunday Bust

The bust began when a U.S. maritime patrol helicopter spotted the suspicious drug boat and relayed the information to the Escanaba.

Rudy Blalock

Published: 4/10/2026, 11:36:34 PM EDT

Coast Guard Cutter Seizes More Than $33 Million Worth of Cocaine in Easter Sunday Bust — Coast Guard Pursuit Boat Retrieves Offloaded Contraband on April 5, 2026. (DHS)

A United States Coast Guard Cutter (USCGC) deployed in the Eastern Pacific Ocean intercepted over 4,500 pounds of cocaine on Easter Sunday. Coast Guard crew spotted a suspected narco-terrorist boat dumping contraband overboard, officials said.

The agency's Cutter Escanaba recovered 4,510 pounds of cocaine—valued at approximately $33.9 million—off the coast of Manta, Ecuador, the Department of Homeland Security announced Thursday. The bust began after a U.S. maritime patrol helicopter spotted the suspicious drug boat and relayed the information to the Escanaba.

Escanaba launched its MH-65 Dolphin helicopter to find and mark the discarded contraband in the water. The cutter then deployed a pursuit boat crew alongside the helicopter team to retrieve the drugs.

Operation Pacific Viper

The seizure is the latest success under Operation Pacific Viper, a counter-drug campaign launched in August 2025 that has quickly become one of the most aggressive maritime drug interdiction efforts in U.S. history.

"Operation Pacific Viper plays a central part of President Trump's fight against the cartels at sea, cutting off their ability to make money by trafficking their poison into our country," DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said. "This operation has already seized over 215,000 pounds of cocaine and has arrested over 160 suspected narco-traffickers. The brave men and women of the Coast Guard are saving American lives by keeping these deadly drugs out of our communities and off our streets."

Since its launch, the operation has set a string of records. In August 2025, the USCGC Hamilton offloaded more than 76,000 pounds of illegal drugs valued at $473 million—the largest drug offload in Coast Guard history. Months later, the USCGC Stone shattered another record when it offloaded over 49,000 pounds of illicit narcotics in a single patrol, valued at $362 million.

The campaign reached a major milestone in February, when the Coast Guard surpassed 200,000 pounds of cocaine seized since the operation began.

In late January, authorities in Puerto Rico arrested a suspected smuggler found hiding on a barge in San Juan Harbor with nearly 800 pounds of cocaine worth more than $5 million. The stowaway was spotted by a tugboat crew member shortly before 6 a.m. on Jan. 28, which brought a joint response from the Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, and Puerto Rico Police.

In the Eastern Pacific in March, the Coast Guard Cutter Forward offloaded nearly 6,570 pounds of cocaine worth more than $49.3 million at Port Everglades, Florida, following two separate seizures in international waters. One of those seizures, carried out by the CGC Spencer on Feb. 7, netted approximately 6,435 pounds after a maritime patrol helicopter located a suspicious vessel.

Also in March, the CGC Munro returned to California after what officials described as the "single largest maritime drug seizure in 18 years"—a 119-day, 26,000-mile patrol that yielded more than 22,000 pounds of cocaine worth an estimated $250 million.