A photograph of a boat, shared by the U.S. Coast Guard in a Jan. 30 post on X announcing that three people had been detained northwest of Ecuador as part of Operation Pacific Viper. Courtesy of the USCG
The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) detained three suspected narco-terrorists in the eastern Pacific Ocean, northwest of Ecuador, preventing more than $33 million in illicit drugs from reaching U.S. borders, the agency said in a Jan. 30 post on X.
The arrests were made earlier last week by the crew of Coast Guard Cutter Seneca as part of Operation Pacific Viper. The operation directs U.S. forces to the Eastern Pacific Region to counter cartel and criminal groups, essentially cutting off drug and human smuggling activities before they hit U.S. shores, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in an Aug. 20, 2025, statement. At the time, DHS Secretary Kristy Noem said that “80 percent of illicit drug seizures occur at sea.”
