Pirates - err no! Drug-runners of the Caribbean Part I
Feb 20, 2019 17:04:49 GMT 1
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Post by Deleted on Feb 20, 2019 17:04:49 GMT 1
In this introductory part, the aim is to set the scene for the second part.
The extent to which drugs were being smuggled out of Colombia was little known in the mid-1980s. It was rarely reported on the news; the principal news outlets in both the US and Europe appeared to ignore the situation. To paraphrase Neville Chamberlain, 'Colombia was a far away country of which we know nothing'.
The scale of the drug-smuggling was, nonetheless, phenomenal. On one occasion, myself and a colleague, with official permission, went to the airfield at Villavicencio, a town about the size of Bristol, which lies just 45 miles south-east of the capital, Bogotá. The airport is 1400 ft above sea level, with an average daytime temperature of 30C and did not operate (officially) at night. Given the heat and altitude, there was a limit to what could be uplifted from the airport, even the though the flights were often relatively short. When we arrived, we counted 14 DC-3s on the airfield, most of them airworthy. My colleague had the camera and we went around taking photos and chatting to the guys on the apron. We quickly noticed that all the aircraft had one thing in common - all had cargo doors – or more accurately spaces where the cargo doors would normally be. Every departure we saw had an open space at the rear of the aircraft. One other thing which quickly became apparent was that many were being loaded with 45 gallon drums of petrol. We asked why this was and they explained that the aircraft were distributing fuel to the more outlying areas of the country, which seemed to have a ring of truth to it. It turned out to be a half-truth however, because we later learned that petroleum is used to break down the coca leaves before further processing. After about an hour or so, and despite having official (written) permission to be on the airfield, we were approached by a couple of heavies at one point and told in no uncertain terms to leave, so we did. Unfortunately, as I have mentioned previously, my colleague had a fantastic slide collection, which his wife dumped in the bin after they got divorced and before he could rescue them. However, there are some excellent photographs (albeit taken 10 years later) which give an excellent idea of the situation on this website: www.michaelprophet.com/News_articles/VVC-airport.html
These operations were at least semi-legitimate and it should be pointed out that these aircraft were not directly involved in the drug smuggling operations as such. This was left to aircraft which had been stolen, usually from the USA. At this time, there was no secondary surveillance radar (SSR), so aircraft could easily fly around at relatively low levels without being seen. There were airstrips all over Colombia large enough to take a DC-3. They were unpaved and usually just cut out of the jungle. In one town, the wide main street was used as a landing strip and SATENA regularly operated a DC-3 into there. The street would of course be closed off once the aircraft had done a circuit over the area!
C-123 54-0663. Now a bar in western Costa Rica. link
This aircraft was not involved in drug-smuggling, but arms smuggling. While heading north out of Nicaragua, (having been involved in the Iran-Contra operation), it apparently suffered an engine failure and made a forced-landing at San Jose airport. The USAF markings had been painted over and I was told that apart from the 663 on the nose, to which a '4' had been added later, there were no identifying marks on it. It simply used the callsign '40663' when it diverted in apparently.
These photographs were taken on the military side of the airfield at Bogotá. We often visited the military and asked on several occasions to be allowed to take photos, but were refused. The aircraft, invariably with US registrations but not always correct ones, had been stolen from the US and had been found in remote jungle locations and flown out by the military and were being ‘held as evidence’. We did manage to get these one day when we were passing by in a 748! This was by no means all the aircraft, but gives some idea of the scale of the operation.
In Part II I will explain how the drugs were smuggled out and the routings they used up to the US.
The extent to which drugs were being smuggled out of Colombia was little known in the mid-1980s. It was rarely reported on the news; the principal news outlets in both the US and Europe appeared to ignore the situation. To paraphrase Neville Chamberlain, 'Colombia was a far away country of which we know nothing'.
The scale of the drug-smuggling was, nonetheless, phenomenal. On one occasion, myself and a colleague, with official permission, went to the airfield at Villavicencio, a town about the size of Bristol, which lies just 45 miles south-east of the capital, Bogotá. The airport is 1400 ft above sea level, with an average daytime temperature of 30C and did not operate (officially) at night. Given the heat and altitude, there was a limit to what could be uplifted from the airport, even the though the flights were often relatively short. When we arrived, we counted 14 DC-3s on the airfield, most of them airworthy. My colleague had the camera and we went around taking photos and chatting to the guys on the apron. We quickly noticed that all the aircraft had one thing in common - all had cargo doors – or more accurately spaces where the cargo doors would normally be. Every departure we saw had an open space at the rear of the aircraft. One other thing which quickly became apparent was that many were being loaded with 45 gallon drums of petrol. We asked why this was and they explained that the aircraft were distributing fuel to the more outlying areas of the country, which seemed to have a ring of truth to it. It turned out to be a half-truth however, because we later learned that petroleum is used to break down the coca leaves before further processing. After about an hour or so, and despite having official (written) permission to be on the airfield, we were approached by a couple of heavies at one point and told in no uncertain terms to leave, so we did. Unfortunately, as I have mentioned previously, my colleague had a fantastic slide collection, which his wife dumped in the bin after they got divorced and before he could rescue them. However, there are some excellent photographs (albeit taken 10 years later) which give an excellent idea of the situation on this website: www.michaelprophet.com/News_articles/VVC-airport.html
These operations were at least semi-legitimate and it should be pointed out that these aircraft were not directly involved in the drug smuggling operations as such. This was left to aircraft which had been stolen, usually from the USA. At this time, there was no secondary surveillance radar (SSR), so aircraft could easily fly around at relatively low levels without being seen. There were airstrips all over Colombia large enough to take a DC-3. They were unpaved and usually just cut out of the jungle. In one town, the wide main street was used as a landing strip and SATENA regularly operated a DC-3 into there. The street would of course be closed off once the aircraft had done a circuit over the area!
C-123 54-0663. Now a bar in western Costa Rica. link
This aircraft was not involved in drug-smuggling, but arms smuggling. While heading north out of Nicaragua, (having been involved in the Iran-Contra operation), it apparently suffered an engine failure and made a forced-landing at San Jose airport. The USAF markings had been painted over and I was told that apart from the 663 on the nose, to which a '4' had been added later, there were no identifying marks on it. It simply used the callsign '40663' when it diverted in apparently.
These photographs were taken on the military side of the airfield at Bogotá. We often visited the military and asked on several occasions to be allowed to take photos, but were refused. The aircraft, invariably with US registrations but not always correct ones, had been stolen from the US and had been found in remote jungle locations and flown out by the military and were being ‘held as evidence’. We did manage to get these one day when we were passing by in a 748! This was by no means all the aircraft, but gives some idea of the scale of the operation.
In Part II I will explain how the drugs were smuggled out and the routings they used up to the US.