Searching for Colombian Gold

A cutter chases drug smugglers on the high seas

The Caribbean today is the theater for a naval war. At stake are the sea lanes through which in 1980 passed 20 million lbs. of Colombian gold--marijuana worth $16 billion on the street. Challenging the smuggling fleets with a thin, stalwart line of vessels is the U.S. Coast Guard. Since January the Coast Guard has intercepted and seized 779,847 lbs. of marijuana, with a market value of $273 million. The best record of interceptions is held by Dauntless, a 210-ft.-long cutter with a crew of 85; 40 marijuana leaves have been painted on the ship's mast, symbols of previous busts. TIME Correspondent Dean Brelis was aboard for its most recent 21-day patrol. His report:

The sailing orders are sealed. Only the skipper. Commander Michael Murtagh, 40, and his executive officer, Lieut. Commander Andy Anderson, 33, know where Dauntless is headed. On this patrol, Murtagh's destination is the 135-mile-wide Yucatan Channel off Mexico's southeast coast. That is where, the captain has been told, he has the best opportunity to intercept a large shipment of U.S.-bound marijuana. Once past the channel, a smuggler has an excellent chance of reaching Florida or Louisiana, whose labyrinthine coastal waterways provide concealment for off-loading the precious cargo into smaller, speedier boats known as bullets.

In the war against the smugglers, the odds are against Murtagh and his men. "The druggers have very good equipment for pinpointing our presence," says Murtagh. For every ship like Dauntless, the drug runners have a flotilla. Moreover, Dauntless has nothing to match the sophisticated satellite navigational gear routinely found on the smugglers' ships. "Even before we begin," Murtagh says, "I assume they are tracking us."

Dauntless is armed with a 3-in. gun that fires 3-ft.-long armor-piercing shells, two .50-cal. and two .30-cal. machine guns, plus M-16s and handguns. Perhaps its most useful weapon is a gigantic pair of powerful binoculars mounted on the roof of the wheelhouse. The crew calls them "the Big Eye."

By law, Dauntless may stop on the high seas any U.S. vessel or any craft without national markings. A boat outside American waters that is flying a foreign flag can be legally boarded only with the agreement of the boat's own government. In September 1980 the Guard began a resolute new enforcement policy. "The traditional warning shot across the bow never stopped anyone because that was all we could do," says a Coast Guard spokesman. Under today's policy, "if a ship does not heed our warning to stop, our ships can open up with disabling fire. We mean business, and the druggies know it."

Three days after sailing from Miami, Dauntless reaches the Yucatan. The next noon the lookout on the Big Eye reports through the voice tube to his captain: "I've got a sighting."

"Bingo," says Murtagh. Looking through his own binoculars he finds the target, a 68-ft.-long shrimper. It is within Mexico's twelve-mile boundary waters, so Dauntless cannot take up pursuit without authorization from the Coast Guard's 7th District, headquartered in Miami. Murtagh breaks radio silence to ask permission and mutters, "John Paul Jones didn't have to put up with all of this."

"She's running!" the lookout shouts.

The target has headed toward the Mexican coast, plowing deeper into the twelve-mile buffer zone, where it assumes Dauntless will not follow.

Murtagh waits, planning to turn on both 2,500-h.p. engines full ahead and cut off the suspect before he reaches the beach. Then comes the first word from headquarters: "Captain, they want to know the feasibility of intercepting him before he reaches the three-mile limit." "Tell them good," snaps Murtagh.

At last, headquarters tells Dauntless that it can move into the buffer zone. The captain gives the order to move ahead full throttle. Dauntless can make 18 knots; the shrimper can go no faster than twelve.

At 4:07 p.m., Dauntless is 2,800 yds. off the stern of the shrimper, which has raised an American flag. Now no question remains about the Coast Guard's authority. The lookout reads its name: Blue Seas, from Hilton Head Island, S.C. A crew member checks the "hit list," a secret Coast Guard catalogue of known smugglers. The boat is not listed. Murtagh is very suspicious. "Blue Seas hasn't been fishing for a long time," he says. The nets are tangled from neglect, the decks clean of fishermen's gear.

At 4:35 p.m., canvas coverings are removed from the loaded .50-cal. machine guns. Crewmen are at battle stations. Sharpshooters are posted on the bridge. Murtagh orders Lieut. Larry Yarbrough, Dauntless's operations officer, to radio Blue Seas. There is no reply. The two ships are now side by side. A coast guardsman tries calling in Spanish. Still no answer. On Blue Seas, the pilothouse door is shut, the window shades drawn tight. Aerials on the mainmast show that the boat is radio equipped, but it is silent.

After five minutes, the pilothouse door opens. A bare-chested man in jeans appears, followed shortly by three comrades. They look dazed, uncertain, as if they had just awakened.

"What was your last port of call?" shouts Yarbrough. "Aruba," answers the man who first appeared on deck. It is not a good answer. Aruba is a frequent island stopover for smugglers after loading up their marijuana in Colombia.

Murtagh asks for Blue Seas' next port.

A voice answers, "The United States," but another voice says, "Shut up! Mexico." By now Murtagh sees that the white hull of Blue Seas is painted with a false water line to make it look empty.

"Tell him to stop his engine and remain where he is," says Murtagh. In minutes the boarding party is on Blue Seas.

As soon as Lieut. Commander Anderson opens the forward hold, he signals up to Murtagh: mission accomplished. The Blue Seas crew is arrested for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. "I don't want to go back to the United States," cries one. He is handcuffed.

No weapons are found, but the search party does discover ammunition. They conjecture that weapons were thrown overboard.

Twenty tons of Colombian gold--$12 million worth--are packed in the holds of Blue Seas. Had the captain delivered his cargo, he would have earned $100,000, the Coast Guard estimates, and the crew $35,000 each. They are angry and demand to make a telephone call, but they must wait until land. They are read their rights and chained in leg irons to deck fittings on Dauntless.

Coast guardsmen take over Blue Seas, which cruises back to Miami with Dauntless. The $200,000 vessel will be impounded by U.S. Customs and probably sold at Government auction. The owner, who is currently unknown, is not likely to come forth to claim it. The 40,000 lbs. of marijuana--tightly packed in polyethylene and burlap and divided into roughly 45-lb. bales--and the erstwhile smugglers will be turned over to the Drug Enforcement Administration. The Colombian gold, which burns at such high heat that it can ruin conventional incinerators, will most probably become free fuel, stoked into the furnaces of Fort Lauderdale's power company to provide electricity.

On the bridge of Dauntless, Captain Murtagh orders the 41st marijuana leaf painted on the mast. "There is at least one thing we prove," he says, sipping from his ever present cup of black coffee. "They don't all get through."

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