I'm Working On A Book...

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by NoBoat

Yes, there certainly have been a number of busts...especially Panga boats loaded with illegal Mexicans and drugs. These are the ones that are caught, so it's only a guess how many are successful.
I guess if I were to re-word it, if YOU (the person reading this) were to do it, how WOULD you do it?

I would do it like the "Black Tuna Gang" use to do it,get the goods(or person) in Mex and scuba dive your way back form Mex To Calif..

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Ocean Girl

We were tracked by coast guard crossing the Gulf of Mexico , our sailboat was 37 ft long. Had a uniformed guy hop out of his car when we pulled up to the fuel dock near bayou La fouche ( LA) to ask us some questions. He knew where we had come from. We invited him aboard for a nice cup of tea as it was raining and a bit chilly .

Probably not the story you were looking for..cruisers are not the best options for smuggling.

I'm a writer too. Without challenges, there's no story. This isn't my story, but if it were, I would assume what crooks assume -- that those in authority have weaknesses and make mistakes. Smart crooks capitalize on those facts.

If it were easy, there would be no story, but I think it naive to imagine that authorities catch all smugglers. So the question to me as a writer would be "How do the successful ones pull it off?" One important set of knowledge is knowing what mistakes others made. Study them enough, and you would probably spot an opportunity.

It wouldn't have to be realistic or true, just work for the story.

[NoBoat]

Gada Girl, that reminds me of another idea I had for another character who wanted to fake his own death.
Authorities won't issue a death certificate without a body or a limb. No has has ever caught off their own limb to do so.
This would still needs quite a bit of vetting. The character would take a hand from someone who wronged the cartel and use it as his own to fake his own death (not trying to go too far off topic here from returning to the states guy).
The two biggest obstacles would be destroying the DNA in the hand and eliminating the fingerprints on the hand and creating a copy that will adhere to the hand. When they find floaters they actually reach their hand into the hand to obtain the fingerprints. If it doesn't turn into a story I think I'm going to be talking to the cartel about some extra income. Joke.
I didn't mean to bold half of a previous article.

[boatman61]

LOLOL..... KISS ROOLS....
According to the 'Blurb' all mobile/sat phones are 'tagged' and key words/phrase's trigger flags... be better off just getting a 750 Yamaha jet bike as close to the border as possible then run the shore line hard and fast setting out at dawn... they're capable of 45+kts... and seeing as you have him with helpers have friends with a car and a twin jet bike trailer camping for a couple of weeks on a beach up coast across the border... they play around on a bike getting any local folk used to the sight.
Close in to the rocky shore line one would be real hard to spot... enough light for you... not enough for folk at sea looking at the shoreline and into a rising sun.,,, and zero radar signature...

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by RedHerring

Are these systems capable of individually tracking tens of thousands of small boats with next to no radar or IR signature anywhere in an area a thousand miles across? I doubt that.

Your doubts are what they are banking on..They not only know every boat and plane ,they know 90% of the people on the boats and planes..Tecnav has it down pat,wonder why....

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by tropicalescape

Your doubts are what they are banking on..They not only know every boat and plane ,they know 90% of the people on the boats and planes..Tecnav has it down pat,wonder why....

I'm sure Teknev is very good at whatever he does. However

1) we have illegal drugs from other countries here

2) we have illegal aliens from other countries here

Therefore, there ARE ways to get in.

[tropicalescape]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

I'm sure Teknev is very good at whatever he does. However

1) we have illegal drugs from other countries here

2) we have illegal aliens from other countries here

Therefore, there ARE ways to get in.

They (the GOV)dont always stop folks when they are doing something wrong ,most of the time they watch and observe(investigation) and then go after the "main target" of such an investigation,letting some drugs get thru ...

[NoBoat]

Tropical Escape, I played with the scuba idea, too. One scuba diver was caught smuggling marijuana from Canada to the US, which is far less secure of a border.
This other article was really good. These scooters are like $199. You can see the problem without using a boat....there is nowhere to go. If you've been along the border you can see the border patrol just hanging out in their trucks. It's not as easy as just swimming around the fence into the ocean.

Immigrants Caught Using Dive Scooters to Cross U.S. Border

According to Reuters, U.S. border patrol recently picked up two illegal immigrants who used dive scooters to cross from Mexico to California. This has to be the most thrilling personal sea scooter episode since that fight in Thunderball.

The two men, 38 and 16 years old, were walking on a beach south of San Diego wearing wet suits and holding their scooters when they were spotted by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter.

Michael Jiminez, a Border Proection spokesperson, explained:

These devices can be used to come north along the coastline and steer into shore ... where they can meet someone who will pick them up in a vehicle and further their entrance into the United States.
Immigrants Caught Using Dive Scooters to Cross U.S. Border
His team didn't find any scuba gear, however, and Jiminez says there's no reason to believe they actually crossed the border underwater. I'm not gonna let that stand in the way of the excellent mental image I've got going on.

Apparently this is the first time suspected illegal immigrants has been apprehended after using dive scooters, though one turned back to Mexico after he was observed using a similar method last October.

I'm not sure if the picture came through, but you can google, "Dive scooter."
The fastest one, ala Tim Allen is $20k, but this is completely unrealistic. It might as well be the $100k jetpack that's available in Hawaii. It's a cat and mouse game using tools and technology that are readily available.

Nimblemotors, we want the bad guy to get away.

[boatman61]

I'm assuming this guy's a deported Mafia/Latino criminal... or similar else he'd enter normally

[NoBoat]

Boatman61, the problem with simply making a run for it up the border is that you'd be tagged very quickly. The border patrol would instantly see and and investigate. Others talk about whether or not they're constantly watching. They're not constantly watching the entire ocean and every movement (ok, maybe they are, but they're not actively monitoring it). The border at the ocean IS constantly being watched....this is coming from the person that debated the point that they cannot watch the entire ocean and catch every vessel coming ashore.
Your idea of having others involved isn't a bad idea, but it's too difficult to just appear out of nowhere on a jetski.
My idea with a jetski would be to be dumped about 15 miles out at sea, at least 20 miles north of San Diego. If you look at smuggling routes for drugs, they're shaped more like an arc or parabola, not straight up and down. You have to venture out a ways. Someone else mentioned it...sail out 200 miles and go due north.
I remember reading a story about a car that decided not to stock at a Mexican federal checkpoint. They were shot up. Although it was in Mexico and on land, the moral of the story was, "What were they thinking?" I think the same would hold true with a jetski straight up the coast. I don't think you could blend in fast enough before they'd catch you. They would call in aerial support and other units in the sea promptly.

[NoBoat]

Tropical Escape, although it's true the coast guard may know a number of boat owners, they're not going to know the thousands of boats that pass through the metro area.

I don't think they're going to allow a suspicious boat to pass through with a dozen people in it at 3 a.m. to see what happens. They're going to investigate.

My questions were more geared towards seeking the creative ideas from others, who have far more nautical experience than myself.
So...If you were going to escape to the US on the Pacific Ocean how would you do it?

Also, I posted a link about the dive scooter, but it has to be approved. Those are cool little $200 contraptions, but don't have a very good range on them.

[Gadagirl]

Originally Posted by NoBoat

Gada Girl, that reminds me of another idea I had for another character who wanted to fake his own death.
Authorities won't issue a death certificate without a body or a limb. No has has ever caught off their own limb to do so.
This would still needs quite a bit of vetting. The character would take a hand from someone who wronged the cartel and use it as his own to fake his own death (not trying to go too far off topic here from returning to the states guy).
The two biggest obstacles would be destroying the DNA in the hand and eliminating the fingerprints on the hand and creating a copy that will adhere to the hand. When they find floaters they actually reach their hand into the hand to obtain the fingerprints. If it doesn't turn into a story I think I'm going to be talking to the cartel about some extra income. Joke.
I didn't mean to bold half of a previous article.

For that would be heavy on futuristic science. Much more research involved. Erasing DNA, finger prints? Better off amputating one's own appendage and going for modern prosthesis (more affordable anywhere than in USA ) and letting your widow collect life insurance, meet you abroad at later time so that you can both spend the pay out. But if you can trust your widow to not double cross you Hmmmmm the twists are endless

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by NoBoat

Tropical Escape, although it's true the coast guard may know a number of boat owners, they're not going to know the thousands of boats that pass through the metro area.

I don't think they're going to allow a suspicious boat to pass through with a dozen people in it at 3 a.m. to see what happens. They're going to investigate.

My questions were more geared towards seeking the creative ideas from others, who have far more nautical experience than myself.
So...If you were going to escape to the US on the Pacific Ocean how would you do it?

Also, I posted a link about the dive scooter, but it has to be approved. Those are cool little $200 contraptions, but don't have a very good range on them.

I think I would act like a cruiser and hopscotch around. I wouldn't go directly from A to B. In the last couple of years, we've had two attempts to kidnap their children and get them out via sailboat.

In both cases they planned carefully, but in both cases they were caught. I believe that if the authorities know what they're looking for, they're probably going to catch them.

I don't know about Mexico, but here on the west coast of Florida it wouldn't look at all suspicious for me to go south to Cabbage Key, then come home, go up to the Gulfport area and hang out a while, sail up to Cedar Key. Maybe my actual destination to get rid of illegal goods was Tarpon Springs, but I didn't go directly. I was just another sailboat exploring.

[bradweston]

In the 80's cocaine used to enter the country from Mexico to San Francisco. It's a long trip but the rational at the time was that no one was expecting it.

If the character doesn't have to come from Mexico but could come from Canada instead then it would be a much easier border crossing. One could canoe across at the boundary waters.

How about From Mexico to Zapata in US by scuba from one fishing boat to another. It could be a really short swim between boats.

[bobconnie]

Somebody sure has been looking at the wrong coast for folks entering the US from Mexico and other countrys Via Mexico. Theres boats droping off folks along the bayous down here in So. Louisiana at least every week !! Ive seen the vans full of them headed to other parts of the state and the country! Theres just so much water, and places that folks can't see down here that it's a commen thing these days of low fish prices, and reduced limits, that a guy has to make a little money some way!! I know that Connie and I have been approched to carry some aboard our boat, cus of the size and the fact we live down the bayou !! Of course at our age we would never take a chance! but 40 yrs ago I would be makin big bucks LOL