Jul 3, 2020,07:50am EDT
Video Shows Coast Guard Helicopter Stopping Drug Smugglers In Their Tracks
H I Sutton
Three months after President Trump announced the beginning of Enhanced Counter Narcotics Operations on April 1, seizures are stacking up. The Coast Guard and Navy have been interdicting boats loaded with drugs in both the Pacific and Caribbean. Inevitably, many of the suspected smugglers do not want to get caught so chases are common. Now the Coast Guard has released a dramatic video showing some of these.
The video shows warning shots being fired across the bows of one of the boats as it attempts to escape. The helicopter keeps pace almost effortlessly, carefully shooting bursts of automatic fire from the starboard (right side) door. We cannot see the weapon employed, but these helicopters are generally equipped with an M240 medium machine gun. The shots, which were intentionally harmless, sent a powerful message. The helicopter also fired disabling rounds to their engines, probably with the Barrett M107 .50 precision rifle normally carried. The boat did not escape.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/hisutton/2020/07/03/us-coast-guard-helicopter-uses-gunfire-to-stop-narco-boat/#336c39407185
