Coast Guard stops boats holding 3 tons of cocaine, opens fire on one

The crew of a U.S. Coast Guard ship simultaneously intercepted three boats carrying illicit drugs in the Caribbean Sea, seizing over three tons of cocaine and stopping what the agency called a "triple threat," officials said Thursday. 

The crew of the Tahoma, a 270-foot cutter, made the interdictions about 90 miles off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia, the Coast Guard said in a news release. To catch all three alleged drug boats at once, the crew of the Tahoma launched two small boats and deployed a helicopter. 

The alleged smugglers aboard the boat pursued by the helicopter were "non-compliant," the Coast Guard said. The Coast Guard aircrew used "aerial use of force tactics, including precision sniper fire directed at the engines" to stop the boat. The alleged smugglers jumped overboard and were rescued by the Coast Guard with no reported injuries. 

Video shared by the Coast Guard showed a member of the aircrew strafing the area in front of the vessel with gunfire, then throwing rescue floats to the alleged smugglers after they jumped overboard. 

The alleged smugglers in the other two boats stopped when ordered to do so by the Coast Guard crew members in small boats. 

The Coast Guard did not say how many people were taken into custody during the operation or if the alleged smugglers aboard the three boats were working together. 

The Tahoma's crew seized 6,085 pounds of cocaine from the three vessels, officials said. The drugs are worth about $45 million, the agency said, and will be offloaded by the ship's crew at Port Everglades in Florida. 

Photos shared by the Coast Guard showed the three alleged drug boats set ablaze. A spokesperson for the Coast Guard previously told CBS News that when agency crews encounter a suspected smuggling vessel, they detain the alleged smugglers, remove any drugs and then sink the boat so they do not pose a threat to other marine traffic. 

About 80% of narcotics seized while being transported to the United States are found at sea, the Coast Guard said. The agency seized over 511,000 pounds of cocaine in 2025. 

The Trump administration has called stopping the flow of drugs into the United States one of its top priorities. Deadly strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean have killed nearly 200 people since they began last September. The administration has also designated drug cartels and transnational gangs as terrorist organizations.