AIRCRAFT DOWN IN HONDURAS AND THE SEIZURE OF 3.3

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 002966 SIPDIS DEA WASHDC FOR SARI, OFC/MCMANUS AND HOBAN, NIBM FOR CASTO AND SZULIM, NIBC FOR WOMBLE, NIAM DEA MEXICO FOR ORTEGA AND VILLALOBOS DEA BOGOTA FOR BASILE AND WILSON DEA HQS PLS PASS TO PHOENIX FIELD DIV FOR DAWSON DEA HQS PLS PASS TO MIAMI DIV GROUP 42 FOR SANES E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: NONE SUBJECT: AIRCRAFT DOWN IN HONDURAS AND THE SEIZURE OF 3.3 KILOS OF COCAINE, GFTI-98-8001/WEC1F/OPERATION WAHOO REF: TEGUCIGALPA TWX 01053 DATED 052018ZAPR02 ¶1. On October 16, 2002 at approximately 11:30AM, a white Cessna aircraft traveling northbound was observed by witnesses decending over Honduran territory in the vicinity of San Jose de La Landa, Honduras. During the descent witnesses observed a suitcase being thrown out of a side door of the aircraft. The aircraft subsequently conducted an emergency landing (131088N/0871466W) at a hacienda identified as La Bodega. The ground was saturated in deep mud at the time of the landing. Witnesses reported seeing a fire rise from the area where the aircraft came to rest. ¶2. Hours later at approximately 4:00PM local, a Honduran Air Force (HOAF) helicopter was observed landing at the site remaining for at least 30 minutes. Witnesses believe that only military personnel were initially present at the site. Most witnesses were away from the wreckage at the time and did not know if anything was removed. Police eventually arrived at the scene later that day. ¶3. Police do not believe the fire was a result of the crash as the wings were left intact adjacent to the charred remains of the fuselage loaded with fuel. The rear portion of the plane still connected to the aircraft had a heavy smell of cocaine. Several used cans of butane and shreds of string/rope were located in the wreckage suggesting the traffickers were prepared to burn the aircraft in the event of an emergency. ¶4. The police arrested two subjects at an unspecified time after landing. Both subjects were taken into custody approximately six kilometers from the aircraft site walking through farm land. The pilot was identified as Luis Mauricio PALACIO-Giraldo (NADDIS 3070303). NADDIS records indicate that PALACIO is a registered Pilot from Colombia. The passenger was a Guatemalan citizen identified as Jose Ramon GAMBOA-Lara. Identifying data on the arrested subjects can be found in the indexing section. ¶5. PALACIO appeared visibly nervous during questioning. The pilot claimed they departed from San Jose, Costa Rica and were destined for Guatemala to display the aircraft to a potential buyer. PALACIO stated he did not know GAMBOA very well as GAMBOA was only an agent for the sale of the aircraft. PALACIO was visibly disturbed when police questioned him on the submission of a flight plan. When PALACIO was asked who contracted him to fly the plane, PALACIO immediately asked for a lawyer. GAMBOA immediately asked for a lawyer when questioned about his association with PALACIO. ¶6. On October 17, a story appeared in the local newspapers reporting the downed aircraft. Rather than receiving timely notification from the Honduran authorities, the TCO found out about the incident from the newspaper report. The TCO/TAT then inquired with El Centro de la Informacion Conjunto (CEINCO) on their knowledge of the issue. CEINCO is the Honduran Joint Intelligence Center (JICC) that acts as a central conduit for information sharing and dissemination. CEINCO claimed to have no prior knowledge of the incident. CEINCO informed the TCO that Police Commander Maradiaga-Pancheme in Choluteca, HD most likely acted unilaterally to initiate the investigation. ¶7. The TCO learned that on the morning of the 17th of October a team composed of one fiscal and other law enforcement personnel found 3.3 kilos of cocaine in the charred remains of the aircraft. Information also indicated that the HOAF once again arrived on the scene early that day. ¶8. On the afternoon of October 17, 2002, DEA I/A Domingue and TAT I/A Scholl traveled to the site accompanied by Comisario Jorge Carrias of CEINCO and Comisario Maradiaga-Pancheme, Police Chief in Choluteca, HD. Upon arrival at the site I/A Domingue retrieved numbers from the aircraft motors. Number 110079 was located on the aircraft motor housing. Number 43371100202 was found on a second device attached to the motor. A third item was documented under part# 420930 and associated with serial# FF1093. ¶9. The Honduran police report dated October 18, 2002 indicated at 13:00 hours on October 16, 2002, police from Department Number 6 received a phone call informing officers of the downed aircraft. The report infers from witness accounts that PALACIO and GAMBOA burned the aircraft to destroy evidence. Police officers seized $5,300.00 from PALACIO and $1,940.00 from GAMBOA. In addition a Garmin GPS and two Nokia cell phones were seized. The report indicated that Honduran Air Force Helicopter 971 was deployed in response to the ingress of the unauthorized aircraft after it was detected on radar. Colonel Sarmiento Santos Moya, Major Juan Ramon Bautista, Lieutenant Noel Matute Baquedano and mechanic Walter Matute were documented as being aboard the responding helicopter. ¶10. Dissemination of information by the Honduran Defense and Security agencies is a continuing problem despite the thousands of dollars that are invested to create an effective operational network. Information accuracy and timeliness rank as top deficiencies that obscure interdiction courses of action and chain of command accountability. There have been two prior air ingress events in which Honduran Defense and Security agencies failed to intervene or follow up (see ref). The TCO later discovered that the Police Director and the Minister of Security were informed on Oct 16 of the event yet failed to make agreed upon notification to the TCO. Several meetings between U.S. and Honduran officials to formulate response procedures and solidify a timely dissemination cycle have produced no improvement. The TCO is left to conclude there is an extreme level of apathy about informing the TCO or the Honduran authorities purposely choose not to inform the TCO. ¶11. The seized cocaine was tested as positive on October 22, 2002 by the Criminal Laboratory of the Ministerio Publico. The cocaine evidence was assigned control number 6368-2002. The TCO will obtain the telephone numbers stored in the memory of the seized cellular phones and GPS information to exploit for intelligence value. ¶12. Pursuant to the DEA Agents Manual, section 6242.11, this twx is submitted in lieu of a DEA-6. ¶13. Any questions concerning this cable can be directed to C/A Tom Berger, S/A Ivan Rios or I/A John Domingue at (301)985-9321. INDEXING ¶1. Palacio-Giraldo, Luis Mauricio - NADDIS 3070303 DOB: August, 25, 1961 Associate: Jose Ramon Gamboa Lara ¶2. Gamboa-Lara, Jose Ramon - NADDIS NEGATIVE DOB: July 17, 1978 Nationality: Guatemala Guatemalan Passport#: 009623701 Guatemalan ID Number: A-1962370 Associate: Luis Mauricio Palacio-Giraldo PIERCE