U.S. Coast Guard Helicopter Fires Warning Shots To Stop Narco Boat

Three months after President Trump announced the beginning of Enhanced Counter Narcotics Operations on April 1, the seizures are stacking up. The Coast Guard and Navy have been interdicting boats loaded with drugs in both the Pacific and Caribbean. Inevitably, many of the suspected smugglers do not want to get caught so chases are common. Now the Coast Guard has released a dramatic video showing some of these.

The video shows warning shots being fired across the bows of one of the boats as it attempts to escape. The helicopter keeps pace almost effortlessly, carefully shooting bursts of automatic fire from the starboard (right side) door. We cannot see the weapon employed, but these helicopters are generally equipped with an M240 medium machine gun. The shots, which were intentionally harmless, sent a powerful message. The boat did not escape.

The drugs busts were by the Cutter Stratton (WMSL 752). She has recently returned from a 94 day patrol of the Eastern Pacific Ocean. During this time she interdicted five drug smuggling vessels and detained 14 suspected smugglers. The cocaine seized was valued at around $113 million. The video shows three of the five vessels.

The second chase sequence in the video involves a Coast Guard boat approaching two go-fasts. The smugglers appear to be involved in moving drugs between their boats. As the law enforcement detachment (LEDET) approaches, one of the boats takes off, abandoning the other. The high speed chase plays out in front of the camera but, inevitably, the smuggler’s boat is run down.

Stratton is not alone. On June 6 the Coast Guard Cutter James (WMSL 754) offloaded approximately 30,000 lb of drugs from 11 different interdictions. The load represented seizures from four cutters and two Navy destroyers. Then on June 23 the Cutter Vigilant (WMEC-617) unloaded 6,800 lb of cocaine in Port Everglades, Florida. Vigilant had been operating in the Caribbean, not Pacific, but the go-fast boats it had interdicted were generally the same.

In the video the Coast Guard uses the label “GFV” which stands for Go-Fast Vessel. These are also referred to as go-fast boats, or GFBs. They are essentially power boats used to smuggle drugs, relying on their small size and high speed to evade detection. But once a Coast Guard or Navy aircraft is on to them there isn’t so much they can do. The video shows a suspected smuggler throwing bales of drugs over the side. It seems futile.

Go-fast boats are not the only vessels that the cutters and warships are facing. So-called narco-submarines are much lower in the water so consequently even harder to spot. There are 4 main types of narco-sub, with some types looking a lot like the go-fasts but lower in the water.

The Enhanced Counter Narcotics Operations will continue. U.S. Southern Command now has an impressive number of Coast Guard cutters, Navy destroyers and and array aircraft at its disposal. So this will not be the last dramatic video to inform us of these operations.