Opinion ID: 3036581
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Early September 2000 Surveillance of the Gran

Text: Tauro In late-Summer 2000, the De Wert was conducting a counter-narcotics patrol in the Eastern Pacific off the coasts of Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. A Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (“LEDET”) team and Navy personnel aboard the De Wert had information that the Gran Tauro, a fishing vessel flying the Colombian flag, was possibly an LSV and one of six vessels possibly involved in drug smuggling. On September 1, 2000, the De Wert’s helicopter located the Gran Tauro drifting or moving at a very slow speed. Nobody aboard the vessel was fishing. The same observations were made the following evening. On September 3, 2000, the De Wert again observed the Gran Tauro. Under the “Agreement between the Government of the United States of Amer2570 UNITED STATES v. PERLAZA ica and the Government of the Republic of Colombia to Suppress Illicit Traffic by Sea” (the “Bilateral Agreement”), the LEDET team received permission from the Colombian government to board the Gran Tauro. The team approached the Gran Tauro in a rigid hull inflatable boat (“boarding boat”) that can be lowered from and lifted onto a frigate. Coast Guard Chief Warrant Officer Christopher Van Pelt, the boarding officer, noticed the intense smell of gasoline. Once aboard, Van Pelt located the Gran Tauro’s master, Defendant José Walter Roman Solis-Barnaza (“Barnaza”), who gave Van Pelt the crew manifest and vessel documentation. Van Pelt identified as members of the crew Defendants Manuel Placido Rengifo-Audiver (“Audiver”), José Neffer CastroCarvajal (“Carvajal”), Hugo Marquez (“Marquez”), Gustavo Salazar Palacios (“Palacios”), Leonar Nellino Segura Perlaza (“Perlaza”), Carlos Julio Valencia-Sanchez (“Sanchez”), and a fifteen-year-old juvenile. Van Pelt inspected the vessel and noted that its nets were in poor condition, that there was no bait in the fish hold, and that the ice in the fish hold was clean with only one fish visible on top. Included among the documents that Van Pelt obtained from Barnaza was a zarpe4 that indicated that the Gran Tauro had left Buenaventura, Colombia, on August 25, 2000, and was supposed to return on September 25, 2000. The zarpe restricted the Gran Tauro to fishing in only Buenaventura Zones 2 and 3 and, because the Gran Tauro ran on diesel, to carrying only two 55-gallon drums of gasoline for its generators and pumps. Barnaza told Van Pelt that the Gran Tauro’s only gasoline was in one blue 55-gallon drum on the Gran Tauro’s fantail, but Van Pelt found approximately 6,000 gal- 4 A zarpe is a written permit — akin to a visa for marine vessels — authorizing a vessel to leave port and restricting the scope and duration of the vessel’s voyage. See Solano v. Gulf King 55, 212 F.3d 902, 904 (5th Cir. 2000) (noting that Nicaraguan-imposed regulations require, among other things, “the issuance of zarpe prior to each fishing trip restricting the scope and duration of that trip”). UNITED STATES v. PERLAZA 2571 lons of gasoline in a tank aboard the vessel. The information obtained by Van Pelt regarding the Gran Tauro’s gasoline supply was relayed to the Colombian government, which asked the LEDET team to order the Gran Tauro to return to Buenaventura and report to the Port Captain.