By The Epoch Times | Created at 2026-08-11 12:00:21 | Updated at 2026-08-11 12:26:52
48 minutes ago
Around 5,308 pounds of cocaine was recently seized by U.S. authorities, together with partners from Costa Rica and Colombia, through a maritime interdiction in the Eastern Pacific.
The go-fast smuggling vessel trafficking the narcotics was initially identified by the Colombian navy, which tracked the boat departing from Colombia and heading to Costa Rica along a known trafficking route, the Joint Interagency Task Force South (JIATFS) said in an Aug. 6 post on X.
A maritime patrol aircraft from the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) pursued the vessel, identifying the speeding boat 179 nautical miles off the Panamanian coast. The aircraft also visually confirmed the presence of suspicious packages aboard the vessel.
JIATFS then provided real-time intelligence to Costa Rican authorities, which deployed interceptor boats and eventually detained the smuggling vessel. In total, 71 bales of cocaine were seized, and three suspects were detained.
“This is rapid-response coordination in action,” JIATFS said.
“Our detection and monitoring efforts directly support @DeptofWar directed and @Southcom-led operations to dismantle transnational criminal organizations and protect the homeland.”
JIATFS, based in Key West, Florida, is an international
alliancethat facilitates the interdiction of drug traffickers in air and maritime domains. The task force operates across a 42-million-square-mile area and involves 20 international and 13 domestic partners.
In another joint operation, JIATFS announced in an Aug. 5 post on X the seizure of roughly 597 pounds of cocaine, with two smugglers detained.
The multinational operation involved the Colombian navy detecting a vessel heading to Panama, SOUTHCOM’s patrol aircraft tracking the target, JIATFS coordinating with partners, and the Panamanian National Aeronaval Service finally intercepting the vessel.
An earlier operation resulted in roughly 762 pounds of cocaine being prevented from entering American communities. The cocaine was being transported by a vessel traveling from the U.S. Virgin Islands to Puerto Rico, JIATFS said in an Aug. 3 post on X.
Maritime Drug Strike Lawsuit
The drug seizures come as the Trump administration is facing a
lawsuitin the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York over the military strikes it has been carrying out against drug vessels in the Caribbean Sea since last year.
In June, the court heard arguments in the case, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) said in a June 24 statement.
The lawsuit is seeking the release of an opinion issued by the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel that is being used to justify the boat strikes, according to the ACLU.
Jeffrey Stein, staff attorney with the ACLU’s National Security Project, alleged that the Trump administration has “murdered over 210 civilians with no sound legal or moral basis.”
“At a minimum, the administration must disclose to the American people why it thinks this killing spree is lawful,” Stein said.
In a May 1 statement filed in court, the administration said that the opinion, a memorandum, includes highly sensitive classified information and is protected from release by an exemption in the Freedom of Information Act.
On May 29, Earl G. Matthews, General Counsel for the Department of War, submitted a filing to the court, confirming that the memorandum is a highly classified document, with portions marked as “Top Secret” and containing “sensitive compartmented information.”
When information is marked as such, it can only be disclosed to people with security clearance to access such details, according to Matthews.
“I understand that only four physical copies are maintained across the entire Executive Branch, and that because of the sensitivity of the information it contains, the Memorandum is maintained in hard copy rather than stored on a classified network or distributed by secure email,” Matthews said.
Earlier in May, the Trump administration had published its 2026 National Drug Control Strategy.
In the report, the administration said that the Caribbean remains a critical transshipment zone for illicit drugs, with the primary threat coming from drug production and transportation networks based in South America.
The operational environment in the Caribbean is “overwhelmingly maritime,” with transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) using go-fast boats, low-profile vessels, and submersibles to transport large quantities of cocaine, according to the report.
“The United States will deny TCOs the use of the Caribbean as a permissive transit zone by establishing and maintaining maritime and air domain dominance,” the strategy report said.
