COAST GUARD STEPS UP DRUG WAR

Aided by helicopters with high-tech weapons, three Portsmouth-based Coast
Guard cutters have gone on a drug-bust binge in the Caribbean that has
netted nearly $400 million worth of cocaine in the past five weeks.

The helicopters, carrying a crewmember who has a laser-sighted .50-caliber
rifle that can disable the engines of the high-speed boats used by
smugglers, have been the key to the Coast Guard's recent success.

"Before, when we've been flying over these guys, we just had to wave, and
they'd give us the finger and float away," said Lt. Shawn Koch, one of the
Coast Guard helicopter pilots. "Now we have a way to stop them."

In part because of the helicopters, the Coast Guard has had one of its best
years yet in America's other war -- the war on drugs. In fiscal 2003, which
ended Sept. 30, the Coast Guard seized 136,865 pounds of cocaine -- an
increase of 17 percent over last year, and second only to the record haul of
138,393 pounds in 2001.

"I make no predictions, but I plan to break my record every year," said Vice
Adm. James D. Hull, commander of the Atlantic Area, which is headquartered
in Portsmouth. "I predict it will get better, and that is not good news for
people trying to do bad things."

Although the three cutters are based in Portsmouth, the helicopters are out
of Jacksonville, Fla. Each helicopter has a three-person crew: two pilots
and an aviation gunner.

The helicopters ride aboard the cutters, frequently performing their own
aerial patrols. Koch and his crew are with the Harriet Lane. The other
Portsmouth-based cutters are the Bear and the Tampa. In all, the Atlantic
region has about a half-dozen cutters working the drug-bust beat.

Many of the smugglers' boats are high-speed craft referred to by the Coast
Guard as "go-fast" boats, some capable of doing more than 60 mph. The
slower-moving cutters cannot catch them on their own.

Also carrying 5.56-mm M-16 rifles and 7.62-mm M-240 machine guns, the
helicopters first try to stop the target boats by using flashing lights, a
siren and a public address system. And now they also have the new
laser-sighted rifles, which allow them to shoot out a speedboat's engine.

"In the past, they might have run knowing they can outbeat the cutters,"
said Lt. Cmdr. Brendan McPherson, executive officer of the Bear, by
telephone from his ship off the coast of Miami. "But they can't outrun these
.50-caliber sniper rifles."

The Portsmouth-based cutters have been particularly busy of late, with four
major busts since mid-September.

The most recent bust came Sunday, when the Tampa seized 4,494 pounds of
cocaine from a 45-foot speedboat during a routine patrol nearly 200 miles
south of Jamaica.

On Sunday, the Bear unloaded 3,400 pounds of cocaine in Miami that it had
seized in the Colombian Basin during busts on Sept. 19 and Oct. 4.

On Sept. 24, the Harriet Lane took 4,000 pounds of cocaine from a 35-foot
speedboat it found off the coast of Honduras.

In the Tampa's latest drug seizure, according to a Coast Guard report, the
speedboat's five-man crew tossed bales of cocaine and fuel barrels overboard
after being spotted by the helicopter.

The helicopter first used warning shots, then fired and disabled the boat's
engines while a small boat from the cutter intercepted the speedboat. The
speedboat crew was detained while cutter personnel recovered 70 bales of
cocaine from the water.

The drug busts are rewarding to the Coast Guard crews, McPherson said.

"Anytime a Coast Guard crew can save a life, prevent an oil spill, or in
this case, intercept illegal drugs, that is what we like to do," he said.
"Crew morale is sky-high. There is a real sense of purpose, and they know
there is an impact back home. These drugs won't show up on the streets of
New York, Los Angeles, or Portsmouth or Norfolk."