Pubdate: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA) Copyright: 2001 San Jose Mercury News Contact: 750 Ridder Park Drive, San Jose, CA 95190 Fax: (408) 271-3792 Website: http://www.sjmercury.com/ Forum: http://forums.bayarea.com/webx/cgi-bin/WebX Author: BEN FOX COCAINE SMUGGLING VIA PACIFIC BECOMING A `HUGE PROBLEM' Colombian Drug Traffickers Choose West Coast Over Caribbean For Contraband, Officials Say SAN DIEGO -- A 40-foot motorboat headed north in the Pacific Ocean off Central America, about 200 miles from land. That was enough to raise suspicion. ``There's no reason to go out that far to fish,'' said Lt. Cmdr. Mike Sabellico of the U.S. Coast Guard in San Diego. ``Normally, that means they're involved in something illegal.'' In this case, it was hauling more than 1,600 pounds of cocaine destined for the United States, according to Coast Guard officials. Two hours after a patrol plane spotted the boat, a U.S. Navy frigate, with sailors and Coast Guard personnel on board, stopped the vessel by firing 15 warning shots from a .50-caliber machine gun. The drug seizure and arrest of seven men off Panama last month were the most recent example of what U.S. authorities say is a major shift in drug trafficking to a vast ocean territory stretching from South America to California. Smuggled from Colombia More than 80 percent of the 126,000 pounds of cocaine seized by the Coast Guard in the 2000 fiscal year came from vessels in the eastern Pacific Ocean, up from 38 percent in 1999. In the current fiscal year, which began Oct. 1, the cocaine seized in the region so far makes up 95 percent of the total, 20,500 pounds. Authorities now believe about half of all cocaine bound for the United States is smuggled from Colombia through the eastern Pacific as traffickers avoid the traditional Caribbean route. Traffickers based in Colombia use fast-moving motorboats with two or three outboard engines, loaded with drugs and extra gas, to reach the southwest coast of Mexico in about two days. They rely on fishing boats scattered along the route to refuel. From Mexico, most of the cocaine is smuggled over land into the United States, officials said. Some of it also is transferred into smaller boats that try to sail directly into U.S. ports. Monitoring traffickers Navy and Coast Guard ships and aircraft patrol international waters. Closer to shore, Customs and Border Patrol officials monitor harbors and bays around California and Texas. United Nations agreements and binational accords between individual nations authorize U.S. authorities to arrest and prosecute traffickers caught in international waters. ``People don't think there's much of a problem on the West Coast, but they're wrong,'' said Max Chandler, a Customs marine enforcement officer in San Diego. ``We've got a huge problem.'' Among the largest catches was the seizure off Panama in September of 5,300 pounds of cocaine, with a street value of $530 million. Alongside the motorboat carrying the drugs was a 72-foot Colombian fishing vessel, which was allegedly used to refuel smaller smuggling crafts. A low-level crew member on such a venture might earn $1,000; a captain might receive $50,000 or more, authorities said. But the wages vary widely. In December, a 49-year-old U.S. citizen arrested by Customs entering San Diego harbor with 600 pounds of marijuana from Mexico in his sailboat told authorities he was paid $12,800, court records show. It was his fifth trip in two weeks. But the penalties also can be substantial. The 12 Colombians arrested in international waters off Panama in September face a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison, according to the federal prosecutor in that case, assistant U.S. attorney Bill Gallo. If the past is any gauge, the drug trafficking in the eastern Pacific is likely to taper off as U.S. authorities become more adept at catching the smugglers, Gallo said. ``It's just like a chess game,'' he said. ``They make a move, and we make a countermove. - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart