Dope-Smuggling Servicemen Add Wrinkle To Drug War

The American military has encountered an unexpected enemy in its war on drugs: U.S. servicemen smuggling marijuana and cocaine into California for Mexican drug rings.

At least 50 Marines and sailors have been investigated for drug running in recent years, according to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Eight military probes involving 20 Marine and Navy suspects were launched in the past year, officials said. And investigators said five of the cases involved Marines suspected of driving narcotics through Camp Pendleton north of San Diego, apparently to help traffickers avoid the Border Patrol check-point on nearby Interstate 5. Officials refused to provide names of the suspects or other de-tails about the smuggling cases, including how many were prosecuted or convicted. The number of service members implicated in smuggling is relatively small compared with the more than 100,000 sailors and Marines stationed in the San Diego area. But the development represents an insidious twist in the corrupting influence of the drug trade, which previously has spawned bribery investigations and convictions of several federal border agents. Records show that some servicemen who were arrested by federal drug agents worked for major Mexican drug rings.

Authorities say most, if not all, of these rings have ties to the violent Arellano-Felix cartel of Tijuana, Mexico, that funnels tons of cocaine and marijuana into the United States. Officials were reluctant to discuss the investigations because a number are ongoing.

However, some acknowledged privately they are surprised and dismayed that servicemen were involved in smug-gling at a time that the military has been used to help stem the flow of drugs across the border. A senior federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity said they don't consider military drug smugglers a big problem. "But it's one that interests us because you don't expect military personnel to be involved in drug smuggling," the official said. In one case, an active duty Marine sneaked marijuana shipments into the United States by using a rubber speedboat to elude Coast Guard and Navy radar. Under cover of night, the drugs were delivered to waiting vehicles at San Diego County beaches.

Clean-cut looks help Military authorities said some servicemen were recruited at Tijuana nightspots and allegedly were paid to transport drugs across the border in private vehicles.

Marines and sailors, they said, evidently were chosen because their clean-cut looks made them less likely to raise suspicion among border inspectors and to be searched. In the last two years, U.S. Customs Service agents have investi-gated 10 to 15 cases of active-duty military men and reservists involved in narcotics trafficking, according to a federal official familiar with the probes. Investigations by U.S. Customs and Drug Enforcement Administration agents have resulted in the indictment of at least two Marines here during the past year, and one National Guard soldier is a firgitive, records show. Smuggling cases targeting dozens of military personnel have arisen while U.S. Army, California Na-tional Guard and Marine units were conducting drug interdiction patrols along the border. Earlier this year, a customs intelligence memo suggested that traffickers still were using Camp Pendleton, a 125,000 acre installation about 60 miles from Tijuana. The Feb. 25 memo obtained by the Times said an informant told investigators that the Arellano-Felix cartel transports small loads of marijuana through the base to avoid a Border Patrol checkpoint on 15. Naval Criiminal Investigative Service Special Agent Wayne Clookie said two civilians were arrested on the base in November 1997 for transporting 52 pounds of marijuana. They attempted to cross the base to avoid the 15 checkpoint," Clookie said.

Marine convicted One of the first reported smuggling cases involving an active-duty Marine occurred in 1995. The Times reported that Cpl. Yiilhuard "Jerry" Pacheco belonged to a Mexican drug ring based in Yorba Linda that was dismantled by the DEA. When he was arrested, Pacheco was a staff member of the commanding general at Camp Pendleton.

Pacheco's ring had direct ties to the Cali cartel in Colombia, and records show the ring shipped up to 14 tons of cocaine between 1993 and 1994 from Southern Cali-fornia to other U.S. cities.

An affidavit filed by a DEA agent said Pacheco rented dwellings for storing cocaine and transported the drug. However, federal prosecutors said there is no evi-dence that Pacheco shipped cocaine through Camp Pendleton. Pacheco was convicted on smuggling charges and is serving a seven-year prison sentence.

He did not respond to an interview request.

Copyright 1998 San Francisco Examiner

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