Fact Check: Did U.S. Task Force Seize 1M Pounds of Cocaine Worth $11B?

CLAIM: A U.S. drug task force has seized a record-breaking one million pounds of cocaine, which is enough to kill every American citizen. The cocaine is valued at $11 billion.

VERDICT: PARTIALLY TRUE

Full Text:  On October 1, 2025, DN-News Liberia published a Facebook post claiming that a U.S. Drug Task Force had seized a massive quantity of drugs valued at US$11 billion. The post stated: "A U.S. drug task force has seized a record-breaking one million pounds of cocaine, which is enough to kill every American citizen. The cocaine is valued at $11 billion."

Similar claims have circulated on Facebook here, here, and here.

Verification: U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), based in Doral, Florida, is one of 11 unified Combatant Commands under the Department of Defense. Its mission is to work collaboratively with allies and partner nations to ensure the Western Hemisphere remains secure, free, and prosperous by deterring aggression, defeating threats, responding to crises, and building regional capacity. we found that the seizure is real.

On September 29, 2025, the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) officially announced that:

"In the past 12 months, U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), in coordination with Joint Inter-agency Task Force South (JIATF-S), the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Navy, inter-agency partners, and allied nations, seized or disrupted more than one million pounds of cocaine during counter drug operations. The effort denied transnational criminal organizations an estimated $11.34 billion in revenue and removed 377 million potential lethal doses from circulation."

The announcement was corroborated by CBN, a global nonprofit ministry, and republished on the U.S. Army Europe and Africa official website. The claim on the order to "kill every American" could not be verified. 

We found NO credible evidence to support the claim that the seized cocaine is "enough to kill every American citizen." No official source from SOUTHCOM or other U.S. agencies made this statement.

Conclusion: A U.S. drug task force seized over one million pounds of cocaine valued at approximately $11 billion, while there is no verified evidence that the quantity seized is "enough to kill every American citizen." therefore, we hold that the claim is partially true.