Chalk another win for the good guys, as the Coast Guard cutter Munro seized more than 20,000 pounds of cocaine in a single drug interdiction mission on December 2nd, and this was the largest seizure a national security cutter had completed involving a go-fast vessel.   New video footage shared with One media source, shows Coast Guard forces, including a sniper from the service’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron (HITRON) based in Jacksonville, Florida, utilizing disabling fire against a go-fast vessel as it completes a drug interdiction mission for Operation Pacific Viper. 

     The amount of cocaine seized in the mission, which occurred in the Eastern Pacific south of Mexico, amounts to more than 7.5 million potentially lethal doses, according to the service. Operation Pacific Viper launched in August and is a combined initiative between the Coast Guard and Navy that seeks to counter the flow of illegal drugs to the U.S. in alignment with President Donald Trump’s broader effort to crack down on drug cartels in Latin America.   The Coast Guard’s Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron snipers are used in missions to disable vessels carrying illicit drugs by targeting and shooting at their engines with rifles to cripple them. Disabling potential drug vessels paves the way for other Coast Guard assets to board and capture drugs stowed away on the boats. Go-fast vessels are common vessels employed to ferry drugs in the Caribbean.