Captain John B. McWhite highlighted that the Hamilton seized a record 47,000 pounds of cocaine during the interdiction of 11 fast vessels, with 34 suspected traffickers detained.

The U.S. Coast Guard offloaded a record drugs haul at Port Everglades, totaling more than 76,000 pounds, including 61,740 pounds of cocaine and 14,400 pounds of marijuana, valued at $473 million.

The operation on August 25, 2025, marked the largest single seizure in Coast Guard history, with the Hamilton offloading over 76,000 pounds of illegal drugs at Port Everglades.

The events span from late June to August 2024, with public disclosure of the seizures occurring in August 2025.

Operation Pacific Viper is part of the effort under the current administration to disrupt Latin American drug cartels and curb drugs and human smuggling reaching the U.S., including 19 interdictions in international waters near the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean.

Federal plans to overhaul the Coast Guard continue, including expanding the fleet and boosting the military workforce by at least 15,000 by the end of fiscal year 2028, while current personnel include more than 43,000 active-duty members, about 8,000 reservists, and 30,000 auxiliary members.

Across 19 interdictions in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean between late June and mid-August, three Coast Guard cutters, two U.S. Navy ships, a Dutch vessel, and multiple interagency units intercepted drug shipments.

Some captures followed sightings by maritime patrol aircraft and were executed by boarding teams in cooperation with the Department of Defense.

Since January, the Coast Guard has seized about $2.2 billion in drugs headed to the United States, according to an agency video accompanying the announcement.

The previous Coast Guard record for large drug offloads stood at about 61,130 pounds, set in 2021.

Rear Admiral Adam Chamie noted the haul could have represented roughly 23 million deadly doses of cocaine, highlighting the scale of the transnational trafficking threat.

Coast Guard officials emphasized that these drugs fuel cartels and the fentanyl crisis, underscoring the broad threat of transnational drug trafficking.