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Feds Catch Sub Loaded With Cocaine

By JACK DATE and THERESA COOK,
ABC News
Posted: 2007-08-23 09:37:10
(Aug. 23) - U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Wednesday that it stopped a vessel allegedly smuggling an estimated five metric tons of cocaine, worth an estimated $353 million.

Authorities arrested four suspected smugglers Sunday, but not before they apparently intentionally sank the semi-submersible vessel. A Coast Guard detachment made the arrests and recovered 11 bales containing 1,210 pounds of cocaine. More than four metric tons of cocaine are believed to have gone down with the watercraft.

A CBP P-3 Orion aircraft, based in Jacksonville, Fla., began tracking the semi-sub Sunday, after the crew noticed the suspicious vessel while conducting a routine patrol in the Pacific Ocean, according to a CBP press release.

"The P-3 aircraft then guided a U.S. Navy ship to the scene as the suspects scuttled the vessel along with the majority of the contraband aboard," the CBP statement said. The Coast Guard then moved in to make the arrests and seize the cocaine.

CBP's Office of Air and Marine maintains P-3 aircraft for transit zone surveillance needs in Corpus Christi, Texas, in addition to its Jacksonville, Fla., base at Cecil Field. According to CBP, the Jacksonville operations center has confiscated more than 32 metric tons of cocaine, with a street value of $2.2 billion, so far this fiscal year. The aircraft are also in use by the CBP in Central and South America.

In March, the Coast Guard announced that it made the largest maritime cocaine bust in U.S. history. The Panamanian ship stopped in that bust was allegedly carrying more than 40,000 pounds of the narcotic – or approximately 20 tons.

Copyright 2008 ABCNEWS.com
2007-08-23 07:22:47
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Recent Comments

1 - 10 of 1700
1700 comments

mthename5 10:33:00 PM Aug 26 2007

The 24 hours passed and no any govermant in the world contact me to show them how to stop the drugs 100% ...i gess they no want it to stop it.. they will lose money if drugs stops. The submarine was not on the govermant list to let it pass by.

Fishndav72 10:21:07 PM Aug 24 2007

Prohibition is not working ---We have more and cheaper drugs on our streets than ever.
Do The Sane,Humane and Rational Thing--Legalize and Tax-just like alcohol.
Then there would be no drug dealers and less teenagers doing Drugs because identification would have to be shown and there would be safer alternatives than the drugs people are doing now that they don't even know what they are getting.
Adults ultimately if they want to do drugs will find a way--why not make it safe,legal and taxable--Don't tell me we are too moral a society to legalize--it is immoral to make drug users criminals because they want to get high..This is America--If you want to drink a beer,Wine or make your own tobacco it is ok --so why not let people do what they want to do--Liberty or Death!!!

forzsnow 03:21:20 PM Aug 24 2007

A crack mother puts her baby in a micro wave oven and the baby survives.

Nurses see the nightmares in everyday real life.

edwardretusaf 02:29:00 PM Aug 24 2007

For every kilo we capture we should open a MacDonalds, Wendys, or Taco Bell. In South America give them American Heart Disease or Cancer.

Sphere1532 02:15:00 PM Aug 24 2007

well what this may be is a try at best, an still the by small arms every two week,
legal so, you all may be them whom made the natives restlass, an pissed me off,
hope you pull you head out you trash, an do the law an no say so no more
is known other then , some ones gone in the hood, less you have a flaw,
you say what a value is when it has no value, an you better mind an tend your elders, food an doctoring, thems anit beathern,
all have the bigging of a smile,

ohringen 12:07:00 PM Aug 24 2007

They will never stop the drug trade until they make it legal.
All drug dealers will have to find other jobs! We collect extra taxes. There will also be less break-ins and killings.

llaport01 10:53:54 AM Aug 24 2007

you know why china and iran dont as many prisoners as we have doctor--because they execute them, then bill the family for the bullet--i agree with you, a much better system

tweetysfriend367 10:53:17 AM Aug 24 2007

RELEE11746 THAT WOULD BE SUCH A GREAT IDEA ITS @#**@ STUPID!!!! HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A BABY THATS BORN ADDICTED TO CRACK??? BELIEVE ME ITS NOT A PRETTY SIGHT? THAT WHO SUFFERS? NOT THE MOM SHES TOO @#@#*(* HIGH TO FEEL ANYTHING, LET ALONE THINK. THAT BABY PAYS THE PRICE FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIFE.

vicartbytes 10:32:16 AM Aug 24 2007

Stupid........I would have tailed it and followed it in to see who the real crime bosses are! Now we will never know. Sad

industrialmagic 10:23:44 AM Aug 24 2007

just awful, so the price went up on the street and a home in my neiborhood had been robbed, should had let the sub go.drugs and crime make us all apreciate what we have and feel better about our selves. a bust like this always makes crime rise.

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