Source: I am retired Navy and did "Counter Narco Terror" missions on a frigate around central America and the Caribbean. We had Coast Guard "Law Enforcement Detachment" embarked onboard.

Those guys were ultimate professionals. They fit right in with us. I invited their chiefs into our chief's mess and they were part of the crew. They did this stuff for a living and we came out to give them support with our helo, our RHIB, and our big grey platform. They taught our guys and led the law enforcement aspect. These ops were a lot of fun.

We almost caught one of these semi submersibles, but they popped the corks and scuttled it as they threw themselves into the water to be rescued by us. Fortunately a bale popped out too, so we had enough evidence to arrest and charge them.

We did catch several small boats that had liquefied cocaine hidden in tanks. It took us a long time to find that. After gathering evidence, we backed up and blew the shit out of the boats with our 76mm. And smoled cigars and laughed.

The purpose of having the Coast Guard was for law enforcement and arrest authority, so we could get the guys further up the chain, not just the transporters. If all we wanted to do was put a dent in their distribution, we would just drive around and blow shit up. I am reasonably confident that is exactly what our boys have orders to do now - fuck them up.