The U.S. Coast Guard seized more than 4,500 pounds of cocaine valued at about $34 million, a discovery officials described as tied to a suspected narco-terrorist vessel in the Eastern Pacific on Easter Sunday, according to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Coast Guard cutter Escanaba was alerted by a maritime patrol aircraft that the crew of the suspected vessel was throwing contraband overboard. An MH-65 Dolphin helicopter aircrew was dispatched to investigate the vessel off the coast of Manta, Ecuador, and the Escanaba deployed a pursuit boat to recover more than 4,510 pounds of cocaine.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin said the recovery was part of Operation Pacific Viper, a Coast Guard counter-drug operation launched in August 2025 in the Eastern Pacific. He described the operation as central to President Trump’s fight against the cartels at sea, aimed at cutting off their profits from trafficking their poison into the United States. Mullin noted the operation has already seized over 215,000 pounds of cocaine and arrested more than 160 suspected narco-traffickers, adding that the Coast Guard’s brave men and women are saving American lives by keeping these deadly drugs out of communities and off the streets.
DHS said the Coast Guard’s efforts to disrupt drug trafficking in the Eastern Pacific are a key part of the administration’s initiative to combat narco-terrorism and dismantle transnational criminal organizations. Through Operation Pacific Viper, the Coast Guard has seized more than 215,000 pounds of cocaine and apprehended more than 160 suspected narco-traffickers, according to DHS.
The operation included what DHS described as the Coast Guard’s largest drug seizure in its history, when more than 76,000 pounds of illegal drugs were recovered in August 2025, valued at $473 million, with the total reflecting multiple interdictions combined into a single offload. The Coast Guard also seized nearly 50,000 pounds of illicit drugs in November 2025, valued at $362 million—one of the largest totals attributed to a Coast Guard cutter from multiple interdicts, according to DHS.
