CBP Air and Marine Instrumental in Seizures of $80 Million Worth of Cocaine

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Thursday, 29 May 2008

Washington - U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Air and Marine today announced two major recent cocaine seizures totaling more than four tons of cocaine made possible by the surveillance operations of CBP Air and Marine. The two loads of cocaine had a street value of $80 million.

A CBP Air and Marine surveillance plane spotted this boat in the Caribbean, carrying more than three tons of cocaine.

In the largest seizure, a fixed-wing P-3 CBP surveillance plane based in Jacksonville, Fla. was patrolling the Caribbean Ocean off the coast of Nicaragua on May 18 when it spotted a go-fast boat loaded with what appeared to be visible bales and barrels. Upon spotting the plane, the boat veered toward the Nicaragua-Honduras coast.

The CBP surveillance plane was able to direct a U.S. Coast Guard boat to the suspect boat. The suspect boat ran aground onshore and occupants of the boat ran, leaving the contraband. Nicaraguan authorities reported recovering 113 bales of cocaine weighing 6,215 pounds and valued at more than $56 million.

In the other case, a CBP surveillance plane on patrol May 11 was alerted to a suspicious aircraft originating from Venezuela flying over the area of Aruba. The CBP P-3 surveillance plane based in Jacksonville, Fla. tracked the suspect aircraft over Belize and Guatemala as it continued toward Mexico. Coordination was made with a U.S. Navy P-3 to monitor the flight of the aircraft, which then entered Mexican airspace. Mexican authorities then tracked the aircraft until it landed on a remote airfield.

Communication recently received from Mexico states that the plane was intercepted by Mexican law enforcement authorities resulting in the seizure of the aircraft, two vehicles and 2,640 pounds of cocaine worth $24 million.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection