Drug trafficking

DRUG TRAFFICKING: HOW A CARTEL SPEEDBOAT WITH 5,000 POUNDS OF COCAINE WAS STOPPED

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) had been investigating a Colombian drug cartel that sent cocaine around the world when agents learned that the cartel was planning a big shipment in a small boat known as a “go-fast.” Then, a U.S. Navy plane flying above the Pacific Ocean about 590 miles off the coast of Mexico on July 8 spotted what looked like a go-fast below in the water. The Navy plane relayed news of the sighting to the Coast Guard command, which dispatched a cutter to intercept the suspicious boat.

“The cutter approached the go-fast and launched a helicopter and a patrol boat, which proceeded to intercept the go-fast,” according to federal court papers. “The helicopter fired warning shots at the go-fast. When the Coast Guardsmen boarded the go-fast, they found five men and the deck covered almost completely with 107 large bundles wrapped in black plastic and brown tape, “such that any passenger…would have to climb over the bales to get from one side of the go-fast to the other,” court papers state.