Coast Guard intercepts “triple threat” boats carrying 3 tons of cocaine, opens fire on one ship
US Coast Guard crews intercepted three drug boats in the Caribbean Sea, seizing three tons of cocaine and ending what the agency calls a “triple threat,” officials said Thursday.
The crew of the Tahoma, a 270-meter cutter, made a demarcation 90 kilometers off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia, the Coast Guard said in a statement. To catch all three suspected drug boats at once, Tahoma crews launched two small boats and dispatched a helicopter.
Suspected smugglers on a boat who were being chased by a helicopter “were not following the rules,” the Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard's air force used “tactical air power, including precision engine-directed gunner fire” to stop the boat. The suspected smugglers got out and were rescued by the Coast Guard with no injuries reported.
A video shared by the Coast Guard shows a crew member patrolling the area in front of the ship with guns, then throwing rescue sticks at the suspected smugglers after they jumped ship.
The suspected smugglers in two other boats stopped when they were ordered by members of the Coast Guard in small boats.
The Coast Guard did not say how many people were detained during the operation or whether the suspected smugglers aboard the three boats were working together.
Tahoma crews seized 6,085 pounds of cocaine from three vessels, officials said. The drugs are worth an estimated $45 million, the agency said, and will be unloaded by the ship's crew at Port Everglades in Florida.
Photos shared by the Coast Guard showed three boats suspected of being set ablaze by drugs. A Coast Guard spokesman he previously told CBS News that if the staff of the center meet a vessel suspected of smuggling, they arrest the suspected smugglers, remove any drugs and sink the boat so that they do not pose a threat to other marine vehicles.
US Coast Guard
About 80% of the drugs seized while being transported to the United States are found at sea, the Coast Guard said. The agency seized more than 511,000 kilograms of cocaine in 2025.
The Trump administration has called stopping the flow of drugs into the United States one of their top priorities. The deadly strikes continue drug vessels in the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean has killed nearly 200 people since it began last September. The administration also designated drug cartels and international gangs as terrorist organizations.
