U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations (AMO) agents recently apprehended multiple individuals and seized two vessels carrying approximately 2,700 pounds of cocaine in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
The incident began as two CBP AMO crews aboard a P-3 airborne early warning detection and monitoring aircraft and a P-3 long range tracker aircraft detected two smuggling vessels southwest of El Salvador while conducting a sweep with the Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) South.
The officers observed three individuals aboard a vessel with a large black tarp covering cargo. Shortly after observation, the officers noticed that the black tarp and cargo were nowhere to be seen. After a brief search, the officers discovered approximately 1,430 pounds of cocaine in a nearby debris field.
After discovering the cocaine, the officers aboard one P-3 aircraft assisted JIATF South and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) in intercepting the vessel. During that time, another vessel was discovered nearby that was suspected of smuggling an additional shipment of cocaine. USCG intercepted the second vessel, which was carrying approximately 1,300 pounds of cocaine and three Ecuadorian nationals.
“It takes the combined efforts of people, aircraft, vessels, and agency partnerships to yield results like this,” Bob Blanchard, director of air operations for the National Air Security Operations Center in Jacksonville, said. “Our across-the-border cooperation with foreign government officials enables us to patrol these hot zones for smuggling activity, yielding substantial seizures of narcotics that would eventually reach the United States if not interdicted.”