Coast Guard teams made a huge bust off the Florida coast. They grabbed over 1,700 kilos of cocaine from a boat near Miami Beach. It’s the biggest catch like this in the area in more than 30 years. The drugs are worth about $28 million on the street.
This all went down on December 2. The U.S. Coast Guard stopped a small boat about three kilometers east of Government Cut. They worked with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Homeland Security Investigations. After pulling the boat to a pier, a smart CBP dog sniffed out the hidden stash. The cocaine was packed in over 1,000 airtight bags, tucked away in secret spots on the vessel. That’s around 3,715 pounds in total.
Three guys on the boat got arrested right away. They’re now in federal lockup, and no names are out yet. Officials are digging into where the drugs came from and how they planned to move them. This hit comes at a time when bad guys try to sneak stuff through busy sea paths from the Caribbean.
Lt. Matthew Ross from the Coast Guard said, “Protecting our sea borders from drug runners and crime groups is our main job.” He thanked the team effort that kept these drugs off the streets. Andy Blanco, head of CBP’s air and sea ops in the southeast, added, “Working together like this shows we can stop smugglers and keep our country safe. We’re always watching.”
This isn’t just any seizure—it’s a record for small Coast Guard posts in South Florida since 1995. It shows how agencies team up to fight big drug networks. These groups often wash money and move other bad stuff too. By catching this load early, they stopped it from hitting U.S. towns and hurting families.
Experts say Florida’s waters are a hot spot for this kind of smuggling. The bust is a win for safety, but it reminds us the fight goes on. What do you think—does this make a real dent in the drug trade? Drop your thoughts below.