A U.S. Navy destroyer transferred 245 kilograms (about 539 pounds) of illegal substances to the U.S. Coast Guard on June 11, following a recovery operation involving the Royal Canadian Navy, according to a Navy statement. The guided-missile destroyer USS Cole, an Arleigh Burke-class vessel, received the contraband from the Royal Canadian Navy’s offshore patrol ship William Hall on June 9 in the Caribbean Sea. The handover was made to the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Vigorous, a Reliance-class vessel, through the ship’s onboard Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET).

Established in 1982, the LEDET program operates under U.S. Northern Command, focusing on maritime drug enforcement and national security. LEDET teams conduct boardings, searches, and seizures in both U.S. and international waters to combat drug smuggling, illegal immigration, and other transnational crimes near the southern U.S. border. The contraband's movement was initially detected by the Joint Interagency Task Force South, which collaborates with international partners to disrupt drug trafficking routes. Details of the seized materials were not disclosed, and an investigation into the operation is ongoing.

This operation aligns with President Donald Trump’s policy of increasing military presence along the U.S. southern border, as outlined in his Jan. 20 executive order titled “Protecting the American People Against Invasion.” By May, nearly 8,000 active-duty troops were stationed at the U.S.-Mexico border, a sharp increase from about 2,500 during the Biden administration. USS Cole, under the Navy’s 4th Fleet, departed Mayport, Florida, on June 5 to replace USS Gravely, which concluded its mission and returned to Norfolk, Virginia, on June 9. Gravely had been deployed since March 15 for drug interdiction efforts in the region.