A Florida-based multi-agency task force seized a record one million pounds of cocaine in fiscal year 2025, a haul officials say amounts to 378 million lethal doses—enough to kill every American.
The Joint Inter-Agency Task Force – South (JIATF-S), led by U.S. Southern Command and supported by the U.S. Coast Guard and international partners, announced the historic seizure Monday. Officials said the operation denied cartels and narco-terrorists $11.34 billion in revenue and removed nearly 42 dump trucks’ worth of cocaine from the global drug trade.
“This is the largest cocaine seizure ever accomplished,” JIATF-S said in a statement. “By disrupting the flow of these deadly drugs, we are saving lives and protecting our homeland.”
The 2025 fiscal year officially ends Tuesday.
Global Reach of Operations
JIATF-S oversees operations across 42 million square miles of ocean, spanning from the Eastern Pacific to the Western Atlantic. The region, long exploited by criminal organizations, remains a major corridor for drugs, arms, cash, and human smuggling.
In recent months, U.S. forces have carried out multiple strikes on smuggling vessels as President Donald Trump escalates military efforts against narco-terrorist networks. The administration has deployed U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers to the Caribbean to reinforce counter-narcotics missions.
Targeting Maduro and Cartels
Earlier this year, Trump designated groups like Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel as foreign terrorist organizations. The Justice Department also placed a $50 million bounty on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom prosecutors accuse of directing the Cartel of the Suns, a trafficking network tied to senior Venezuelan officials.
According to the State Department, Maduro allegedly conspired with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to traffic multi-ton shipments of cocaine while supplying the group with military-grade weapons.
Maduro has dismissed the U.S. allegations, calling Trump’s actions “an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat.” He vowed Venezuela would resist any American military moves.
Record-Breaking Impact
Officials stressed that the one million pounds seized does not include recent strikes against Venezuelan networks. They emphasized that this year’s results mark an unprecedented milestone in the fight against international drug cartels.
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