Hall Off-Loads Large Drug Capture

The cocaine was off-loaded from USS John L. Hall (FFG-32), a Navy guided missile frigate from Mayport. The illegal drugs were seized in two separate interagency busts, which included two Jacksonville-based units, and resulted in 13 arrests keeping 15,000 pounds of drugs off U.S. streets.

The first bust took place approximately 150 miles northeast of the Galapagos Islands in the Pacific Ocean June 12. An aircrew from the Jacksonville-based Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Squadron spotted a suspected go-fast, a high-speed boat used for drug smuggling, while on a counter drug patrol.

The four suspected smugglers fled from the HITRON aircrew in their high-speed boat. After numerous verbal and audible warnings, the aircrew fired warning shots in the boat's path. The boat did not stop or slow forcing the aircrew to safely fire two rounds of disabling fire in the boat's engines.

The aircrew observed the suspected smugglers jettisoning the bales of contraband but had to leave the go-fast's position because they were running low on fuel. The aircrew returned to the go-fast's position, but the suspected smugglers were gone.

A marine patrol aircraft relocated the suspected smugglers boarding a nearby fishing vessel. The Coast Guard Cutter Alert from Astoria, Ore., picked up five bales of the jettisoned contraband and intercepted the fishing vessel. A boarding team from the Alert boarded the vessel, detained the smugglers and went back to recover the remaining contraband. More than 5,000 pounds of cocaine was seized in this bust.

The second bust took place approximately 72 miles southwest of the El Salvador and Guatemala border July 7. USS John L. Hall came upon the fishing vessel Cisne and saw the crew gathering on the stern of the ship. The crew abandoned ship into a dingy after their fishing vessel became engulfed in flames.

The crew of the USS John L. Hall put out the burning boat, which Cisne crewmen later said started in the galley. A repair party from the USS John L. Hall boarded the Cisne and ensured it was safe for a Coast Guard law enforcement team from Tactical Law Enforcement Team South in Miami to board.

Once aboard the Cisne, the Coast Guard boarding team located more than 10,000 pounds of cocaine in hidden compartments on the fishing vessel. The Coast Guard detained the nine crewmen from the Cisne and the contraband.

The U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District Florida, is prosecuting both cases.