Smuggler's Gauntlet: The Death-Defying Flights With Colombian Contraband

Flying contraband from Colombia into the state of Louisiana was a process fraught with danger.

Barry Seal’s light aircraft sat in a clearing deep in the depths of the Colombian rainforest. Seal, an American, clambered out of the cockpit and stretched his legs on the grassy airstrip. A gang of cartel henchmen loaded up the plane. They re-fuelled it. Time for the return flight.

This was the tricky bit. Customs officials weren’t too bothered about aircraft leaving US airspace. It was the ones coming in they were after.

Barry Seal

With the Gulf of Mexico spread out beneath him, Seal flew low – very low – over the ocean surface. This was the best way to go under the radar… literally. Seal flew his plane at “prop wash”. That meant he was so close to the water, the plane’s propellers actually splashed water onto the windshield.

Seal was travelling at a speed of just 120 knots. To put that in perspective, plenty of private planes go at over 500 knots. But at this reduced speed, Seal was more likely to avoid detection. On radar screens, his plane looked like just another helicopter coming ashore off the oil rigs.

Seal made it safely over the Gulf of Mexico and around Louisiana’s Gulf Coast. Now it was time to make the drop.

Moonlight glinted off the surface of the south Louisiana swamps. The waters around here teemed with shrimp destined for gumbo pots all around the state.

The perfect stillness was ruptured as Seal’s low-flying plane came in overhead. He’d navigated his way to this drop point using radar beacons.

As Seal passed overhead, several large objects were thrown out of the plane. They came flying through the air and landed with a splash. Quite a surprise for the sleeping swamp life.

Stillness returned as the aircraft receded out of earshot. The duffle bags bobbed in the water.

Then, the whirr of propeller engines: an incoming helicopter. It hovered overhead. A hatch opened in the helicopter’s belly. A line was dropped down. It hooked the duffel bags, one by one, and winched them up. Then, as quickly as it arrived, the helicopter was out of here.

A fortune had come and gone to this swampy corner of Louisiana, almost in the blink of an eye. Because these duffle bags… were full to the brim with cocaine.

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