CBP Aircraft, Interagency Coordination Thwart Semi-Submersible

Including this effort, CBP’s P-3 aircraft have contributed to the disruption of approximately 105,000 pounds of cocaine during the last 12 months.

JACKSONVILLE, FL (July 28, 2009): U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Air and Marine high-endurance P-3 aircraft were instrumental yesterday in interdicting a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel in the Eastern Pacific.

The CBP P-3 surveillance crew identified the semi-submersible off the coast of Colombia, and directed U.S. Coast Guard assets to intercept the vessel. The four-person crew of the semi-submersible, frequent constructed and used for smuggling, boarded an inflatable raft and scuttled the vessel.

Including this effort, CBP’s P-3 aircraft have contributed to the disruption of approximately 105,000 pounds of cocaine during the last 12 months.

“The CBP P-3 program has led the way through many highly successful law-enforcement efforts to detect and interdict semi-submersibles in joint operations with the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Navy,” said John Stanton, executive director for national air security operations for CBP’s Office of Air and Marine. “Similar to a submarine, these custom-built vessels operate with a significant portion of its hull below the waterline, making it difficult to detect. Maritime patrol aircraft, like the P-3s, have the best chances and track record at detecting these types of vessels.”

Semi-submersibles usually are powered by a single diesel engine, and built to handle an average payload of five metric tons. The vessels are an example of how drug smugglers are changing their tactics to avoid detection. Drug trafficking organizations are building these vessels to transport large amounts of drugs and other contraband from source regions in South America to Central America, Mexico, and ultimately to the United States.

To patrol the drug transit zone, CBP uses the long-range tracking capabilities of the P-3 to detect and track suspect criminal activity and contraband as it moves toward the U.S. border. The drug transit zone is several million square-miles in size, roughly twice the size of the continental U.S., and includes the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the eastern Pacific Ocean. Once suspect activity is detected, the agents coordinate with CBP partner agencies through the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force–South, headquartered in Key West, Fla., to deny drug traffickers the use of air and maritime routes.

“Right now, drug trafficking organizations are using semi-submersibles to transport drugs to the U.S. for profit,” Stanton added, “but the ability of criminals to move payloads of this size also make us more vulnerable to the movement of weapons of mass destruction and other threats of terrorism. We must continue to have a collaborative approach to supporting our partners in interdicting these dangerous vessels before they reach our borders.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.
www.cbp.gov