Mexico: Mini-Sub with 5+Tons of Cocaine Captured....
FalconsLair
Captured:
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday that U.S.
intelligence led Mexican forces to a small submarine captured this
week packed with 5.8 tons of cocaine.
Chertoff called the vessel's seizure Wednesday off Oaxaca state in
southern Mexico "a great example of our cooperation."
"We shared information with the Mexican navy, but the Mexican navy
acted alone in actually executing the seizure," Chertoff told a news
conference in Mexico City.
Mexican navy Vice Adm. Jose Maria Ortegon said the 30-foot green
submarine was equipped with GPS and a compass, and its crew had
planned to drop off its shipment on Mexican shores. The navy has since
stepped up patrols in the area.
Authorities arrested four Colombian crew members who claim to be
fishermen forced by drug cartels to move the cargo. They say they left
the Colombian port of Buenaventura about a week ago.
Similar makeshift submarines carrying drugs have been discovered off
Colombia and Central America, but the navy says the seizure is a first
for Mexico.
The U.S. Coast Guard seized one in November 2006.
Chertoff, who is on a three-day trip to meet with Mexican security
officials, said drug cartels are increasingly relying on the subs to
smuggle cocaine to the United States.
U.S. officials say traffickers use the vessels to carry about 32
percent of the cocaine moved by water from South America to the U.S.
Costing about $1 million, the boats are usually painted to blend in
with the color of the water, U.S. Coast Guard Cmdr. Thad Allen told
reporters in Washington on Friday.
Many are capable of carrying more than 10 tons of cocaine and can be
operated by remote control from hundreds of miles away, Allen said.
Drug cartels have been looking for new ways to move drugs north to the
United States as the Mexican government cracks down on drug
trafficking across the country.
Jose Ruiz, a spokesman from the U.S. military's Southern Command in
Miami told McClatchy Newspapers that at least 40 semi-submersible subs
have been spotted by the United States and allies since 2006, mostly
hugging the Pacific Coast of Central America or Mexico.
Wednesday's seizure stood out because Mexico was able to grab the
green makeshift wood-and-fiberglass submarine before it was scuttled,
providing a better sense of how traffickers are designing these odd
drug-transport ships more commonly used to ferry drugs in Colombian
jungle rivers.
President Felipe Calderón has deployed 25,000 soldiers across the
country to battle drug gangs, which have responded with bold attacks
on the military and police. More than 4,000 people have been killed in
turf wars, assassinations and shootouts since Calderón took office in
December 2006.
Chertoff said Friday that a $400 million aid package recently approved
by the United States would go to help Mexico buy equipment, train
agents and coordinate information with the U.S. He also praised
Mexico's drug offensive.
"My personal belief is that you got to step down very hard very
quickly on those people who challenge the rule of law and defy it, and
that's why I'm pleased to see the Mexican military has been involved,"
Chertoff said. "They have been aggressive, and most of all they
haven't been intimidated."
Source: Morning Intel News Brief via Internal Company News Wire