A crew of pilots from Texas with U.S. Customs and Border Protection helped capture a narco-sub that was carrying 3,800 pounds of cocaine in international waters near Panama.
The bust was recently announced by CBP revealing information on the November operation where a crew of pilots from Corpus Christi using a P-3 Long Range Tracker were able to lead authorities to the narco-sub.
Three men crewed the underwater vessel to move the cocaine undetected. They were arrested and the vessel seized with the help of the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy.
Some U.S. news outlets erroneously reported that the seizure occurred in Texas waters or in the Gulf of Mexico. According to information provided to Breitbart Texas by CBP, the operation was executed near Panama in international waters.
While the origin of the sub was not revealed, Colombian cartels have a history of using similar watercraft to move large quantities of cocaine into Mexico or the Caribbean Islands for eventual smuggling into the U.S.
CBP’s Air and Marine Operations conducts long-range aerial patrols and surveillance along U.S. borders and drug transit zones in Central and South America, CBP revealed.
“The drug cartels are relentless and extremely innovative,” Allen Durham, the Corpus Christi director for the National Air Security Operations Center said in a prepared statement. “Interdicting self-propelled semi-submersible vessels requires expertise and the right aircraft.”
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and Stephen K. Bannon. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded the Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and Stephen K. Bannon. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.