Montréal bust
Her Majesty's Canadian Ship, that is:
Warship helped catch cocaine boatOfficial news release here, plus a post on Navy involvement in a drug bust off Nova Scotia last September.
A Halifax-based warship helped nab a small boat laden with 600 kilograms of cocaine off the northeastern coast of South America earlier this month, the military has announced.
On Feb. 9, HMCS Montreal assisted the French warship FV Ventose to intercept a drug smuggler’s "go-fast" boat carrying $30 million worth of cocaine, the navy said Friday in a news release.
The Ventose delivered the smugglers and the seized drugs to police authorities in Martinique after sinking the small boat so it would not present a hazard to marine traffic.
An Aurora aircraft, most of which are based at 14 Wing Greenwood, also played a role on Jan. 15 in tracking a self-propelled semi-submersible craft off the northwestern Atlantic coast of South America.
The military says these low-profile boats are one of the latest methods used in the region to smuggle drugs.
A U.S. Coast Guard cutter seized the craft, which was carrying seven metric tonnes of cocaine valued at $242 million.
The crew and vessel of the boat were taken to Florida for prosecution.
The missions were part of Operation Caribbe [the name for Canadian participation in US Joint Interagency Task Force (JIATF) South]. According to the military, the operation has supported drug busts in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that stopped $272 million worth of cocaine from reaching the streets of North America in 2009.
Canadian warships and military aircraft have been participating in U.S.-led counter-drug operations off the southern approaches to North America since 2006.
"Every day the men and women of the Canadian Forces contribute directly to the safety and security of Canadians right here at home," Vice-Admiral Dean McFadden, commander of Canada Command, said in a news release.
"Through a range of domestic and continental operations, the Canadian Forces are also helping to strengthen the 21st-century defence and security architecture needed to keep Canadians secure."
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 12:02 p.m.
1 Comments:
"...An Aurora aircraft, most of which are based at 14 Wing Greenwood, also played a role on Jan. 15 in tracking a self-propelled semi-submersible craft off the northwestern Atlantic coast of South America...The military says these low-profile boats are one of the latest methods used in the region to smuggle drugs...A U.S. Coast Guard cutter seized the craft, which was carrying seven metric tonnes of cocaine valued at $242 million."
More on those semi-submersibles at Strategy Page, in an article entitled "Better than the Real Thing".
The estimated cost to the drug cartels is approx. $10 million to build the semi-submersible and produce the 7 tons of cocaine each can carry. The North American street value of the coke is over $200 million. Given that the Good Guys are getting better and better at detecting and stopping drug shipments via other methods, this cost-to-benefit ratio explains the growing phenomenon of these semi-submersibles.
It's a fascinating and very informative article, well worth the read.
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