Operation Panama Express is a long-running

Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force The Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) is a federal drug enforcement program in the United States, overseen by the Attorney General and the Department of Justice. The principal mission of the OCDETF program is to identify, disr ...

(OCDETF), comprising participants from the

Coast Guard Investigative Service The Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS) is a division of the United States Coast Guard that investigates crimes where the U.S. Coast Guard has an interest. It is composed of civilian ( GS-1811), active duty, reserve enlisted, and warrant offic ...

, the

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the

Drug Enforcement Administration The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA; ) is a Federal law enforcement in the United States, United States federal law enforcement agency under the U.S. Department of Justice tasked with combating drug trafficking and distribution within th ...

, and the United States Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida. According to a March 2006 Congressional testimony by DEA Chief of Operations Michael Braun, Operation Panama Express has resulted in the seizure of 350 metric tons (392 tons) of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

, and the arrests of 1,107 individuals. The OCDETF is based in

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

, and focuses primarily on interrupting cocaine shipments en route from

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

—especially

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

. On September 13, 2008, the

U.S. Coast Guard The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is the maritime security, search and rescue, and law enforcement service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the country's eight uniformed services. The service is a maritime, military, mul ...

captured a

narco submarine A narco-submarine (also called a drug sub or narco sub) is a type of custom ocean-going self-propelled typically semi-submersible (sometimes fully-submersible) vessel built for smugglers. Newer submarines are 'nearly-fully' submersible to be ...

carrying approximately seven tons of cocaine, located about west of

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

. The 59-foot-long, steel and fiberglass craft was detected by a

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

aircraft as part of Operation Panama Express.

Joaquin Mario Valencia-Trujillo

The most notable individual arrested as a result of Operation Panama Express is Colombian

Cali cartel The Cali Cartel ( es, Cartel de Cali) was a drug cartel based in southern Colombia, around the city of Cali and the Valle del Cauca. Its founders were the brothers Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela. They broke away f ...

kingpin Joaquin Mario Valencia-Trujillo. Valencia was arrested on January 31, 2003 in Bogota, Colombia, and extradited in 2004 to the United States. The lead witness in Valencia's trial was Jose Castrillon-Henao, a former

maritime smuggling chief who became an

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...

informant in 1999. Valencia was sentenced to a prison term of 40 years, and ordered to forfeit $110 million.

References

External links

Congressional Testimony by Michael Braun (March 30, 2006)April 16, 2005 Cocaine Seizure detailed in Coast Guard Magazine (April 27, 2005)
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20071010163110/http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=104&sid=728605 WTOP: "Testimony Begins in Alleged Kingpin Trial" (July 10, 2006)br>''The Tampa Tribune'': "Trial Offers 'Miami Vice' Scenario" (July 5, 2006)
* ttp://www.sptimes.com/2006/07/09/Tampabay/Drug_trial_could_shak.shtml ''The St. Petersburg Times'': "Drug Trial Could Shake Colombia" (July 9, 2006) {{DEFAULTSORT:Panama Express, Operation Drug Enforcement Administration operations Law enforcement operations in the United States Operations against organized crime in the United States