The U.S. Coast Guard offloaded almost six tons of cocaine worth more than a half-billion dollars at Port Everglades, Florida — intercepting six vessels from February through mid-April, the Miami Herald reported Thursday.
According to the Herald, the Coast Guard Cutter Bertholf snagged about 1,653 pounds of cocaine on its one interdiction, while the Coast Guard Cutter Bear picked up the most — an estimated 6,029 pounds on two cases.
The Coast Guard Cutter James, which made three interceptions, brought in an estimated 4,313 pounds.
In total, it was worth up to $627 million.
The stops were made in the waters off South America and the Central America region, including Mexico, the Herald reported.
"Short amount of time, six tons of cocaine," said Cutter James Captain Mark Fedor, the CBS affiliate in Miami reported. "Each of those bails is really the embodiment of violence, corruption, and instability in a Central America region that just can't absorb it."
"Our motto on board is 'We own the night.' We have a lot of sensors that can find these small boats in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, in the middle of nowhere," he added.
"These are small 35- to 40-foot, go-fast vessels, they're open construction, multiple outboard engines and they leave Columbia to run hundreds of miles sometimes thousands of miles to get to their destination."
The vast majority of the cocaine will be destroyed, while some of it will be held for the prosecution of drug smuggling suspects, the affiliate reported.
The latest seizures come on the heels of a Coast Guard haul by the Cutter Steadfast in January, which returned to port in Oregon with some 12,000 pounds of cocaine taken from cartels and crimes groups in the Eastern Pacific, Fox News reported at the time. The crew was conducting a 50-day, counter-drug patrol in the Pacific off the coasts of Mexico and Central America.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.