COAST GUARD FIRES AT DRUG BOATS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Coast Guard sharpshooters have been firing from
helicopters to knock out the engines of cocaine-laden boats in the
Caribbean, officials disclosed Monday. The tactic -- one not used since the
1920s Prohibition era -- has already netted three tons of cocaine.

The previously secret assaults have been used in recent weeks to stop
smugglers who now use open-hull, low-profile boats called ``Super
Smugglers'' or ``Go-Fasts'' that carry barrels of fuel and about a ton of
cocaine each.

The use of such boats has doubled since 1996, officials say, and they now
carry more than 85 percent of all maritime drug shipments.

``Operation New Frontier'' has led to the capture of 13 crew members from
four boats and more than three tons of cocaine destined for the U.S.
market, said Barry McCaffrey, White House drug control director.

He said it and other anti-drug operations in the past year have brought
cocaine confiscation to a record 53 tons, with a street value of $3.7 billion.

``We have made the drug smugglers afraid. We will now make them
disappear,'' McCaffrey said at a news conference alongside one of the
specially equipped MH90 Enforcer helicopters leased by the Coast Guard. The
helicopter and a sleek Coast Guard chase craft were brought to the
Transportation Department aboard flatbed trucks.

Three of the four ``Super Smugglers'' stopped so far were disabled in the
last month. None of the four crews fired back, Coast Guard officials said,
but U.S. agents are allowed to return lethal fire if they do.

The latest tactics include machine-gun fire across boats' bows, use of a
``stingball'' that explodes into a shower of rubber pellets and a special
net that entangles a boat's engines. Using a sharpshooter is the Coast
Guard's last resort to stop the boats.

Sharpshooter Charlie Hopkins, nicknamed ``El Diablo'' because his
.50-caliber Robar rifle bears the packing number 999, fired three shots
Aug. 16 that disabled a vessel. Hopkins, 32, of Winslow, Maine, said he
aims his laser targeting sight only at the speeding crafts' engines.

``We're still humanitarian. We just want to stop the flow,'' he said in an
interview, noting that the each helicopter carries a life raft in case a
boat is accidentally blown up or sunk.

Adm. James E. Loy, Coast Guard commandant, said there was no chance that
commercial fishermen or pleasure boaters would be targeted by the
sharpshooters, saying that identification and extensive warnings are
required before aggressive tactics are employed.

``This special show is not going to be coming to a theater near you,'' he
said in an effort to reassure private boaters.

Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, who oversees the Coast Guard, said
``Operation New Frontier'' will lead to other high-tech interventions to
counter drug smuggling. The Clinton administration is asking for $17.8
billion to fight illegal drugs next year.

The officials declined to provide further details of the new tactics. But a
Coast Guard background briefing described the dramatic encounters and
released videotape of two incidents that showed helicopters as they stopped
speeding vessels.

The Coast Guard is not believed to have authorized firing from the air to
disable vessels since fixed-wing aircraft were used to chase down and stop
shipments of illegal alcohol in the 1920s, according to the service's
historian's office.

Loy said although the new tactics were not intended to kill or injure, they
do put smugglers in increased danger. ``If there's a new risk on the part
of the bad guys, that's terrific,'' he said.

The ``Go-Fasts'' represent a change in strategy for drug smugglers, who
have seen a halt to big cargo flights out of Colombia, McCaffrey said.

The Coast Guard's previous tactic, firing warning shots from the sea at the
speedy boats, was ineffective, considering that smugglers average more than
a trip a day between Colombia and Puerto Rico, Haiti or the Dominican
Republic en route to the United States.