Posted on 11/06/2004 10:36:22 PM PST by CWOJackson
KEY WEST
More than 37 tons of cocaine with an estimated street value of $2.3 billion was hauled off a Navy frigate Friday, adding to a record year of seizures as part of a joint effort to stop drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific.
The 75,000 pounds of white powder is from five separate seizures at sea between Aug. 31 and Sept. 26, the U.S. Coast Guard said in a statement.
The largest cocaine discovery in the history of Coast Guard's East Coast operations was made Sept. 17 when a Coast Guard detachment from the frigate, the USS Curts, found 30,000 pounds -- 15 tons -- on the fishing vessel Lina Maria about 300 miles west of the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean.
On Sept. 23, a Coast Guard team aboard the USS Crommelin discovered about 26,775 pounds of cocaine aboard the fishing vessel San Jose roughly 650 miles southwest of the Galapagos.
That was the third largest such find in the history of Operation Panama Express, a joint effort between the U.S. Attorney's Office in Tampa, the Coast Guard, Immigration of Customs Enforcement, Drug Enforcement Administration, FBI and the Navy.
Thirty-one people were arrested in the five boardings and will face prosecution in federal court in Tampa.
Do we have jurisdiction there? If not, did we have permission to board a vessel on the high seas from her captain or the Country of Registry?
First Bush gets reelected. Now this. It sucks to be a criminal these days.
AQ??
International waters belong to nobody, we SHOULD take it all over and make all the oceans US property... heh
man, not only did Kerry lose, but now the Hollywood libs have been deprived of their means to snort away thier sorrows...
Sorry, couldn't help myself.
:)
Somebody that knew a lot was doing some serious talking.
The Fed reward money for those level of seizures would be mid 7 figures. (each)
15 tons. That is no dinghy.
You nailed it in one. When a suspect vessel is spotted permission is obtained through the state department to stop and search them. That permission includes using whatever force necessary to make them comply with your order to stop.
However it came about..... good news!
Apparently so. And 37+ tons is a lot of cocaine. Somebody on the shipping end is going to be very unhappy.
A helicopter deployed with the cutter Rush noticed a Colombian-flagged fishing vessel possibly refueling a suspicious speed boat on Sunday, the Coast Guard said Thursday.
When the fast boat tried to flee, the Coast Guard helicopter gave chase and the crew disabled the boat by firing rounds to the engine department, officials said.
A Coast Guard team boarded the boat and seized 91 bales of cocaine, weighing more than 4,800 pounds (2,175 kilograms).
The Navy frigate Halyburton intercepted the fishing vessel Aventurero and its seven crew members on Monday.
The 12 detained crewmen from the fishing vessel and the speed boat 11 Colombians and one Mexican were being held aboard the Halyburton.
Both the fishing vessel and the speed boat were cited as hazards to navigation and destroyed.
The Galapagos Islands are 620 miles west of Ecuador.
what a terrible week for democrats...
This is great, Jackson. This is cutting off an enormous amount of money, not to mention driving Hollywood crazy.
scores of folks in Colombia will die as they try to ferret out the source of the leak.
quantities this size are probably the Upper Cauca Valley cartel headed by Ivan Urdinola in conjunction with the Cachacos (Bogota)....I'm sure it embarked from Colombia's Pacific coast which is strictly their turf....probably pooled together to share the risk.
but somebody talked....USN and USCG assets do not normally do random patrols that far out without hard intel...that is a mighty big pond compared to the choke points in the Caribbean.
Nobody lives on those islands. There are, maybe, some scientists studying the animals and a few very lucky tourists.
Those drug lords and/or terrorists will not be happy.
Very. And I cannot begin to imagine how much "commerce" is effected in the US.
If you break it down into grams - - say $75/gram on the streets of America.....
How many grams are there in 37 tons, anyway?
Marion Barry is deeply saddened.
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