High-Octane Bust: Smugglers Mix Cocaine and Diesel
Oct. 10, 2007— -- Some things just don't mix -- such as cocaine and diesel fuel.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced the interdiction of an estimated 3 metric tons of cocaine Wednesday, and officials say the alleged smugglers combined the narcotics with the fuel to conceal it.
Authorities stopped the fishing boat Mar Pacifico Sept. 25 as it sailed in the Pacific Ocean about, 300 miles west of Ecuador.
One of the Customs and Border Protection's P-3 aircraft, based in Corpus Christi, Texas, spotted the suspicious vessel and requested that nearby Navy personnel inspect the craft. Upon further inspection Sept. 27, U.S. Coast Guard investigators noticed what were described as "pipes behind panels inside the bulkhead."
In those pipes, officials said, the team found "an estimated 2,325 gallons of a brown, syrupy substance consistent with liquid cocaine."
Eight Colombian nationals on the ship were taken into custody after authorities made the discovery. A Customs and Border Protection spokesman told ABC News the individuals' current locations were unknown.
The Mar Pacifico bust is the latest in a series of high-yield smuggling cases since the spring.
In August, Customs and Border Patrol announced the arrest of four suspected smugglers after authorities stopped a semi-submersible vessel that officials said was carrying approximately 5 metric tons of cocaine with a street value in the neighborhood of $353 million.
In that case, however, the suspected smugglers apparently intentionally sank the sub, so authorities said they were able to recover 1,210 pounds of cocaine, a fraction of what they believe the ship was allegedly smuggling.
In April, Customs and Border Patrol said, a Corpus Christi-based P-3 spotted a ship in the Pacific Ocean, allegedly carrying almost 11,000 pounds of liquid cocaine. After boarding that fishing vessel Emperador, Coast Guard personnel allegedly discovered the drugs concealed as 3,850 gallons of a diesel mixture.
The month before the Emperador" bust, the Coast Guard announced that it made the largest maritime cocaine seizure in U.S. history, after it intercepted a Panamanian ship allegedly carrying more than 40,000 pounds of the narcotic -- or approximately 20 tons.
ABC News' Jack Date contributed to this report.
