Cutter Jarvis aids drug bust
By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer
It's the fourth straight record year of drug seizures for the Coast Guard, and a Sept. 9 seizure by the Honolulu-based cutter Jarvis has added to the haul.
US Coast Guard
Eighty bales of cocaine, jettisoned during a chase with a speedboat off Mexico, were retrieved by the Jarvis crew. The 4,387 pounds of illegal drugs are worth an estimated $40 million.
Jarvis crew members Chad Brick and Jackson Rosser open a bale of the cocaine jettisoned by a fleeing boat off Mexico.
"This is a sometimes forgotten war where the stakes are still very high," said Capt. Michael Jett, commanding officer of the 378-foot Jarvis.
The seizure represents the 17th Coast Guard drug interdiction in the eastern Pacific for fiscal 2004, bringing the total amount seized to more than 87,000 pounds.
"It's not uncommon for the Coast Guard to do drug seizures," Chief Petty Officer Marshalena Delaney, a spokeswoman for the 14th District, said yesterday. "This is just another part of the homeland security mission."
The Coast Guard works in conjunction with the Navy on counter-drug missions, and recent years have seen big seizures in the eastern Pacific. The Pearl Harbor-based frigate USS Crommelin earlier this summer recovered 72 bales of cocaine worth $36 million during a deployment off Central and South America that began in May.
The Jarvis, which has predominately patrolled Alaskan waters enforcing drift net regulations, made its first cocaine bust in more than five years. The ship and its crew of about 150 are still deployed to the eastern Pacific.
A patrolling Navy P-3C Orion aircraft spotted a "go-fast" vessel — speedboats outfitted for high-speed drug runs — and notified the Jarvis, which launched an HH-65 Dolphin helicopter.
The boat escaped, but not before dumping the cocaine bales, which the Jarvis crew marked with a life ring rigged with a radar reflector and strobe.
Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-5459.
