A Florida-based multi-agency task force has seized a record one million pounds of cocaine during fiscal year 2025, a haul officials say represents 378 million lethal doses, enough to kill every American.
The seizure was announced by the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force–South (JIATF-S).
The unit is led by U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which works with the U.S. Coast Guard and partner nations to disrupt the flow of illicit drugs moving through South America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
According to JIATF-S, the unprecedented haul is enough to fill 42 dump trucks.
The effort denied cartels and narcoterrorist groups $11.34 billion in revenue and removed 377.9 million lethal doses from circulation.
“By disrupting the flow of these deadly drugs, JIATF-S is saving lives and protecting our homeland,” the agency said.
Breaking Cartels’ Grip
JIATF-S operates across 42 million square miles, from the Eastern Pacific to the Western Atlantic, covering international waters north of the Caribbean Antilles down to Cape Horn in South America.
The region has long served as a trafficking corridor for drugs, arms, cash, and human smuggling and is increasingly dominated by sophisticated, well-financed criminal networks.
Officials noted that the one million pounds of cocaine seized does not even account for additional strikes carried out against Venezuelan narco-terrorists.
Trump’s Counter-Narcotics Strategy
President Donald Trump has made intensifying counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean a central piece of his border and national security strategy.
In February, Trump formally designated the Sinaloa Cartel and Tren de Aragua as foreign terrorist organizations.
The move was designed to expand the administration’s ability to target its financial and logistical networks.
The Justice Department has also offered a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro, according to U.S. prosecutors, helped lead the Cartel of the Suns, a Venezuelan drug-trafficking network.
The Cartel of the Suns is comprised of senior government and military officials.
“As he gained power in Venezuela, Maduro participated in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorism conspiracy with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a designated Foreign Terrorist Organization,” the State Department said in a bulletin.
Prosecutors allege Maduro helped arrange multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine and directed the cartel to provide the group with military-grade weapons.
U.S. Military Deployment
In August, Trump approved the deployment of several U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers to the Caribbean to bolster interdiction efforts.
Maduro, in response, lashed out, accusing Trump of orchestrating a campaign to overthrow his government.
He called the deployment “an extravagant, unjustifiable, immoral, and absolutely criminal and bloody threat.”
The record-breaking cocaine bust underscores the escalating confrontation between the Trump administration and transnational cartels.
The fight is increasingly tied to the destabilization of Venezuela and the global reach of narcoterrorist groups.
Our comment section is restricted to members of the Slay News community only.
To join, create a free account HERE.
If you are already a member, log in HERE.