Coast Guard Cutter Alert Returns to Cape Canaveral After $18 Million Drug Seizure Patrol

According to the Coast Guard, Alert’s big seizure consisted of about 2,250 pounds (1,021 kg) of cocaine, worth an estimated $18.4 million, and about 7 pounds (3 kg) of marijuana, worth about $7,000. The narcotics total is what’s described in reports as “more than $18 million” in drugs seized.

Public reports describe one major drug interdiction by Alert during this patrol: stopping a single go-fast boat in the Windward Passage and seizing the cocaine, marijuana, and a firearm on board. The Coast Guard release also notes that Alert conducted additional law-enforcement boardings in the eastern Pacific, but it does not say how many in total, so the exact number of interdictions/boardings is not publicly available.

These areas sit on the main sea routes used to move cocaine from producing countries in South America toward the United States and other markets:

• Windward Passage: The narrow strait between Cuba and Haiti is a chokepoint on shipping lanes between the Panama Canal and the U.S. East Coast. Smugglers use it because traffic is dense and it offers relatively direct access toward Florida and the southeastern U.S.
• Caribbean Sea: The Caribbean basin, including island chains and multiple coastal states, forms a network of potential stopovers and handoff points for drug loads. Traffickers exploit the many islands, small ports, and stretches with limited law-enforcement coverage to move cocaine northward by boat and aircraft.
• Eastern Pacific Ocean: Waters off Central and South America’s Pacific coasts are now one of the primary maritime corridors for large cocaine shipments. Fast boats and semi-submersibles carry multi-ton loads from Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia toward Mexico and Central America, where they are broken up and moved overland toward the U.S. Because so much cocaine flows through the Caribbean and eastern Pacific by sea, the U.S. and partner countries concentrate patrols and surveillance there to intercept shipments before they reach shore.

Deployment areas for cutters like Alert are chosen based on intelligence-led targeting and regional command plans:

• Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATF-S), under U.S. Southern Command in Key West, uses intelligence, radar, aircraft, and partner reporting to detect and monitor suspected drug movements by sea and air across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
• When JIATF-S and other intelligence sources identify likely trafficking routes or suspect vessels, they coordinate with Coast Guard Atlantic Area and the relevant Coast Guard district (Southeast or Southwest) to position cutters and aircraft where they are most likely to intercept smugglers.
• Coast Guard strategic documents describe this as focusing limited cutters in the Western Hemisphere Transit Zone (Caribbean + eastern Pacific) where data show the highest volumes of illicit traffic, rather than spreading them evenly.

Yes. Alert’s boarding team detained four suspected drug smugglers from the go‑fast vessel in the Windward Passage. The four suspects, along with the seized cocaine, marijuana, and an illegal firearm, were transferred to the government of The Bahamas for prosecution under that country’s laws.

International and regional partners are heavily involved in Coast Guard counter-drug work in these waters:

• Joint operations and training: During this patrol, Alert conducted joint pursuit exercises and counter‑drug training with Panama’s National Aeronaval Service and Joint Maritime Force–Panama, and hosted Costa Rican Coast Guard personnel aboard in Golfito to discuss strengthening regional counter‑drug efforts.
• Legal and operational frameworks: Agreements like the U.S.–Panama Salas‑Becker Complementary Agreement provide the legal basis for cooperative at‑sea interdictions and overflight/boarding rights.
• Multinational coordination: JIATF‑South runs Operation Martillo, which coordinates U.S. assets with partner militaries and law‑enforcement agencies from Central and South America, Canada, the U.K., the Netherlands and others, so that whichever country is best placed (legally and geographically) can pursue, board, and prosecute smugglers. These partnerships allow the Coast Guard to operate in or near other nations’ waters, share intelligence, and hand over detainees and evidence for local prosecution, as happened with The Bahamas in this case.