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Drug Bust

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., April 27 -- The CGC Tornado delivered more than 5,000 pounds of cocaine and six suspected smugglers to agents from Operation Panama Express here today.

The drugs were seized from a smuggling go-fast vessel April 16, through a team effort by the Coast Guard, U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Air and Marine Operations, and the Navy.

The pursuit began in the early hours when the go-fast was detected by a patrolling CBP AMO P-3 maritime patrol aircraft flying in support of Joint Interagency Task Force South, based in Key West.

JIATF South alerted the patrolling ships, USS Doyle, with Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment 408 embarked, and CGC Forward, directing them to attempt to stop the suspicious vessel.

The crew of the Doyle, using their embarked helicopter, pursued the suspect vessel while the crew of the Forward moved into position ahead of the fleeing go-fast. During the chase, the helicopter crew observed the suspected smugglers jettisoning possible contraband overboard.

More than five hours after the chase began, with the Doyle's helicopter in pursuit, the Forward was able to move in position to issue warning shots in front of the go-fast vessel, which compelled it to stop.

Once stopped, a boarding team from the Forward was dispatched to the suspect vessel. The vessel was ultimately determined to be without nationality and subject to U.S. jurisdiction. The six people aboard, five claiming to be Colombian and one Mexican, were taken into custody and transferred to the Forward.

Meanwhile, the Doyle and its helicopter conducted a search for the jettisoned contraband, eventually recovering 77 bales of cocaine, weighing approximately 5,100 pounds.

The drugs, with an import value of more than $160 million, represent the most recent seizure as a result of Operation Panama Express, a longstanding Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Investigation based in Tampa.

Members of the Operation Panama Express team include: U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida, Coast Guard, JIATF-South, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Drug Enforcement Administration, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigative Division, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, and the Sheriff's Offices from Pinellas and Sarasota Counties.

With five months still remaining in Fiscal Year 2005, already more than 140,000 pounds of cocaine have been seized on the high seas.

The Forward is a medium endurance cutter homeported in Portsmouth, Va.; the USS Doyle is a guided missile fast frigate homeported in Mayport; LEDET 408 is from Tactical Law Enforcement Team South in Miami and the CBP AMO P-3 maritime patrol aircraft are based in Corpus Christi, Texas.

Story by Lt. Anthony Russell, 7th Dist. and photos by PA1 Danielle DeMarino, PADET St. Petersburg, Fla.

COPYRIGHT 2005 U.S. Coast Guard
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