A combination of forces from the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and the Colombian Navy stopped a go-fast boat in the eastern Pacific recently and recovered 1,080 pounds of cocaine even as the boat caught fire and started to burn. They arrested four men who jumped overboard to escape the flames.
Smugglers increasingly are using the low-profile, go-fast boats in an effort to avoid radar detection, but this boat was spotted by military aircraft, which alerted the USS Zephyr. When the Zephyr approached the go-fast boat, the crew started to throw the cargo overboard and then jumped overboard themselves. It took the crew on the Zephyr 90 minutes to extinguish the fire and recover the cocaine.
“There was no doubt in our minds what needed to be done to salvage the evidence needed for a successful prosecution, even if it meant laying Zephyr alongside a burning hull,” said Lt. Cmdr. Grant Greenwell, the commanding officer of the Zephyr. Read more:
http://www.businessinsider.com/coast-guard-navy-half-ton-cocaine-smuggling-2018-4
