U.S. Chases Down Cocaine Boat Off Costa Rica
A U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) airplane caught three smuggling suspects in a high-speed chase 900 miles southwest of Costa Rica, outracing a "go-fast" speedboat laden with cocaine with a street value of us$35 million, CBP officials said yesterday.

In a joint operation with the U.S. Coast Guard, CBP officials in Washington said, a P-3 aircraft detected and tracked the go-fast vessel over the weekend and coordinated interception by a Coast Guard cutter.

While in pursuit, the officials said, CBP air interdiction agents observed the smugglers dump 18 bales of presumed cocaine with an estimated street value of more than us$10.5 million from the vessel before Coast Guard personnel disabled its outboard motors.

"This operation is a classic example of what we do every day, working with our federal partners to detect and interdict drugs before they reach our shores," said CBP Assistant Commissioner Michael Kostelnik, who heads the agency's air and marine unit.

Mr. Kostelnik, a retired U.S. Air Force major general, said CBP's P-3 aircraft play a critical role in homeland security, tracking and coordinating interdiction of suspected smuggling activity. He said the priority mission of the CBP air and marine unit "is to protect the American people from terrorists" and prevent terrorist weapons from entering the country.