C.B.P. News Release

CBP Aircraft, Interagency Coordination Disrupt Smugglers

(Wednesday, August 19, 2009)

Washington – U.S. Customs and Border Protection and its interagency partners disrupted two maritime smuggling attempts last week, officials announced today.

Acting on intelligence from the Joint Interagency Task Force–South, a CBP P-3 surveillance aircraft patrolling in the eastern Pacific Ocean detected a fishing vessel. The P-3 crew tracked the target, and detected a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel moving toward it.

The illegal watercraft’s low profile creates a small radar cross section that is difficult to detect. However, the CBP air crew spotted a small wake in the calm Pacific and knew something was out of place.

“You just don’t see a streak of white in the ocean like that and not know it belongs to a small craft making at least 20 knots or more,â€