Volume 9
boat was in the water , officers on the watch floor at JIATF-S requested that the U . S . Navy launch a P3 surveillance aircraft to locate the smugglers , who were making their way up the east coast of Nicaragua toward Honduras .
Because there were no U . S . Coast Guard cutters in the vicinity to make an interdiction , the watch floor commander called the Honduran liaison officer assigned to JIATF-S and asked for assistance .
In a matter of hours , radar-equipped Honduran aircraft had taken over tracking the vessel and Honduran navy patrol boats were under way . As the navy interceptors closed in , the four smugglers beached their craft and ran into the jungle , firing on their pursuers as they fled .
In the end , the criminals were apprehended , along with the drugs and weapons . The four are currently imprisoned in Honduras .
Champions Edition
whose liaison officers work side by side — has proven to be remarkably successful in the fight against the illegal drug trade .
“ If you take the average price of a kilo of cocaine on Main Street USA ,” said Coast Guard Rear Adm . Christopher Tomney , JIATF-S director , “ we have taken more than $ 6 billion worth of illicit profits out of the system . We ’ re talking hundreds of tons of cocaine that have been intercepted .”
The challenges posed by narco-traffickers , however , remain enormous . “ The threats we go against know no boundaries ,” Tomney said . “ These are threats that affect multiple agencies and multiple nations . It not only takes a whole government approach to go after these problems , it really takes a whole hemisphere approach .”
The task force succeeds by integrating intelligence gathering and sharing with streamlined and highly coordinated tactical operations . Partner nations significantly extend the reach of U . S . capabilities . Everyone works toward the common goal of stopping the illicit drug trade . As one task force member noted , “ We all take the field as one team .” ( Watch how the FBI plays an integral role in the multi-national effort to stem the illegal flow of drugs , much of it bound for the U . S . Courtesy of the FBI and YouTube )
From a single piece of intelligence provided to the FBI in New Orleans , an international response was quickly set in motion that kept a large quantity of drugs from entering the United States . At JIATF-S , scenarios like this play out nearly every day .
Since its creation nearly three decades ago , the task force — composed of every branch of the U . S . military , U . S . federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies , and 15 partner nations
Using intelligence largely supplied by the FBI , the task force detects and monitors the go-fast boats and difficult-to-detect semi-submersible vessels used by traffickers . Then , military and law enforcement personnel from the U . S . and partner nations step in to carry out the interdictions and arrests . ( This “ go-fast ” boat seized by law enforcement is typical of vessels used by drug traffickers to smuggle their illicit cargo .