U.S. Coast Guard Offloads $200M of Cocaine in San Diego

On Thursday, the U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCGC Kimball offloaded more than $200 million worth of South American cocaine at a pier in San Diego, showing the service's long-term dedication to reducing the flow of the lucrative drug to North American and overseas markets.

The total size of the haul came to nearly 19,000 pounds (8.5 tonnes), enough for 8.5 million one-gram retail sales. The service said that the offload was a result of six separate suspected drug smuggling vessel interdictions off Mexico and Central and South America. The cutters Kimball and Forward carried out these intercepts from February through April.

Today, the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Kimball (WMSL-756) offloaded 18,898 pounds of cocaine with an estimated value of $214.3 million. This offload is the result of six drug interdictions executed by the crews of Coast Guard Cutter Kimball and Coast Guard Cutter Forward… pic.twitter.com/srHfO4pKVN

— U.S. Coast Guard (@USCG) April 24, 2025

The delivery follows shortly after a 20-tonne offload from the cutter USCGC James in Port Everglades earlier this month. James' crew racked up nine separate interdictions in January and February, with help from an embarked HITRON helicopter aircrew and interagency partners.

Last month, USCGC Stone delivered another 20 tonnes to Port Everglades, and USCGC Valiant offloaded another six tonnes in Miami.

All of these wholesale drug shipments are captured in the busy smuggling corridors between South America, Central America and the Caribbean islands. The cargoes that make it through are landed in transit nations like Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama or southern Mexico, and a substantial share of the arriving drugs make their way to Europe via infiltration into local container terminals. Another share of the drug flow makes its way north via overland trafficking routes to serve the North American market, via the U.S. southern border.