The Pacific Ocean lit up like a war zone as a joint DEA–El Salvador task force ambushed what investigators call a “mini‑fleet” of CJNG cartel boats, seizing and destroying 6 tons of cocaine and leaving three traffickers dead in a violent firefight at sea.

The operation began before dawn, when Salvadoran naval radars and a U.S. surveillance aircraft picked up three “go‑fast” boats running dark, low in the water, on a route long suspected as a CJNG corridor. Coordinated in real time with a DEA command post, patrol craft moved in to box the flotilla against territorial waters, ordering them to stop.

Instead, authorities say, cartel crews opened fire with rifles and at least one belt‑fed weapon, strafing the lead patrol boat. Naval commandos returned fire, killing three suspected smugglers and forcing the others to surrender as their engines were disabled. No Salvadoran or U.S. personnel were killed, though several boats took hits.

On board, officers found bales stacked to the ceiling — enough high‑purity cocaine to flood multiple U.S. cities for months. Under DEA supervision, the drugs were photographed, sampled for evidence and then incinerated and scuttled at sea, a deliberate spectacle meant to signal that CJNG’s Pacific “ghost route” is no longer safe.

Officials in San Salvador are hailing the bust as a defining moment, proof that a small nation — backed by U.S. intel — can punch far above its weight against one of Mexico’s most feared cartels.