Pubdate: Tuesday September 14, 1999 Source: Bergen Record (NJ) Copyright: 1999 Bergen Record Corp. Page: A16 Contact: http://www.bergen.com/cgi-bin/feedback Website: http://www.bergen.com/ Author: David Briscoe, Associated Press OLD TACTIC REVIVED FOR DRUG WAR Marksmen Bag Speedy Boats WASHINGTON -- Coast Guard sharpshooters are firing from helicopters to knock out the engines of cocaine laden boats in the Caribbean in a tactic unused since the Prohibition era, officials disclosed Monday. The previously secret assaults have been employed in recent weeks using an array of non lethal tactics to stop smugglers who use open hull, low-profile boats called "Super Smugglers" or "Go Fasts" that carry barrels of fuel and about a ton of cocaine each. The sea encounters have led to the capture of 13 crew members from four boats and have netted more than three tons of cocaine destined for the U.S. market, said Barry McCaffrey White House drug control director. He said those and other operations in the past year brought cocaine confiscation to a record 53 tons, with a street value of $3.7 billion. "We have made the drug smugglers afraid. We will now make them disappear," McCaffrey said at a news conference with other officials alongside one of the specially equipped MH 90 Enforcer helicopters leased by the Coast Guard for the operation. The helicopter and a sleek Coast Guard chase craft were brought to the Transportation Department aboard flatbed trucks. Three of the four "Super Smugglers" stopped so far were disabled in the past month. None of the four crews fired back, Coast Guard officials said, but rules of engagement allow lethal return fire if they do. Sharpshooter Charlie Hopkins, nicknamed "El Diablo" because his .50 caliber Robar rifle bears the serial number 999, fired three shots Aug. 16 that disabled a vessel. "Depending on which way you hold it, it carries the sign of the devil [666]," said Hopkins, 32, of Winslow, Maine. But he said he aims his laser targeting sight only at the speeding crafts' engines. "We're still humanitarian. We just want to stop the flow," he said, noting that each helicopter carries a life raft in case a boat is accidentally blown up or sunk. Adm. James E. Loy, Coast Guard commandant, ruled out any chance that commercial fishermen or pleasure boaters will be targeted by the sharpshooters. Rules require identification and extensive warnings before aggressive tactics are employed. "This special show is not going to be coming to a theater near you," he said as an assurance to private boaters. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, who oversees the Coast Guard, said the interdiction effort, dubbed Operation New Frontier, will lead to other high tech operations to counter drug smuggling. Officials declined to detail the new tactics. But a Coast Guard background briefing provided descriptions of the dramatic encounters, and videotape of two incidents showed helicopters as they stopped speeding vessels. The Coast Guard is not believed to have authorized firing from the air to disable vessels since fixed wing aircraft were used to chase down and stop shipments of illegal alcohol in the 1920s, The latest use of non lethal force included machine gun firing across the bows of boats, use a "stingball" that exploded into a shower of rubber pellets, and deployment of a special net to entangle a boat's engines. Use of sharpshooters is a last resort. Loy admitted happily that although the new tactics are not intended to kill or injure, they put the smuggler at increased danger. "If there's a new risk on the part of the bad guys, that's terrific," he said. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake