Below you can see our list of the 10 biggest drug busts in US history. For a more comprehensive list please see this article.
10. 13.8 tons Colombian drug bust
Back in 2005, this was the biggest drug bust in Colombian history, of drugs which were intended to make their way to the US. They were all seized in a single day in a single place and were worth $350 million at the time.
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9. 14 ton Texas drug bust
This is one of the older entries in our list, dating in at 1989, but is still one of the biggest drug busts in the US of all time, when a raid on a house near the Mexican border and another on a vessel on sea resulted in a hoard of 14 tons of cocaine being recovered. Investigators had initially only expected 2,000 pounds only to discover nearly 18,000 pounds once the confiscations were executed.
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8. San Diego 2007 drug bust
Another drug bust for San Diego gives it an unwanted record of being featured twice on our list, but a months long operation resulted in tons of drugs being recovered, including marijuana, cocaine, meth and even heroin. They also recovered $45 million in hard cash and $9 million in assets. The operation saw over 400 people being arrested for their involvement in the drug trade.
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7. $500 million Pacific Ocean drug bust
The Pacific is perhaps the single biggest entry of drugs into the US, which is why it has taken drastic action to discourage drug smugglers from undertaking activities in the region, one of which includes a $500 million drug bust worth nearly 19 tons of cocaine!
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6. 105 ton marijuana drug bust
We are deviating slightly from the harder drugs to marijuana but this one was impossible to ignore because of the sheer size of the drug bust, at 105 tons. While marijuana’s street value is significantly lower than cocaine or heroin, but then no heroin or cocaine drug bust has even come close to this size. The packages were color coded and had Homer Simpson labels, because why not?
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5. Los Angeles 1991 drug bust
Once more, we take you back a few decades to 1991, in Los Angeles, which saw one of the biggest drug busts in the history of not just the US at the time, but the entire world. 21.4 tons of cocaine were discovered, worth at the time an estimated $6.9 billion and resulted in a life sentence for the warehouse manager where the stash was discovered. In the preceding months, more than 77 tons had moved through that very warehouse.
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4. San Diego 2015 drug bust
Oh look, we have San Diego once again, though the actual bust was in the waters where 50,000 pounds of cocaine, worth around $800 million was discovered and unloaded in San Diego. However, according to the Coast Guard at best they only manage to capture a third of what comes through, which means over 66% of the drugs still make it past the law and into the hands of eager consumers ready to ruin their lives.
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3. US Coast Guard 2016 drug bust
Many of the massive drug busts happen in waters because, as we mentioned earlier, the Pacific is one of the biggest routes to the illegal drug trade, which is why the US Coast Guard is mentioned here a lot. In 2016, 26 tons of cocaine were seized by the US Coast Guard and the Royal Canadian Navy in a joint operation, with the drugs worth over $2 billion. The drugs came from multiple places in South America.
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2. Colombia 2007 drug bust
Colombia is one of the biggest drug producers in the world and so are their drug busts, with the 2007 drug bust worth around $500 million, for drugs most likely heading to the US. This is as of now, still the biggest drug bust in Colombia with 27 tons of cocaine being recovered, which were buried under an estuary.
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1. San Diego 2015 drug bust
Topping the list of 10 biggest drug busts in US history is the one that took place in San Diego in 2015.. 32 tons of cocaine and two tons of heroin were captured in the bust which would have provided over 33 million lines of blow for consumers. This was part of a four month operation which saw regular seizures, which then added up to 34 tons of heroin and cocaine.
See also 13 U.S. cities that are crowded by Mexican drug cartels, 8 most wanted drug lords by DEA, and top 15 U.S. cities with highest number of murders.
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