Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Agent Doug Cortinovus was working in Managua when word came down that NNP agents involved in drug interdiction needed help to set up a Mobile Inspection Team (MIT). DEAs Managua Country Office and the State Departments' International Narcotics Law Enforcement Office selected and purchased the equipment the NNP would need to set up the Unit - expensive, sophisticated equipment U.S. law enforcement was counting on to pay off in jackpot drug seizures on the border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Partners to provide training
DEA had worked with Customs inspectors before in Central and South America who had provided support and training in similar situations. DEA Agent Cortinovus contacted inspectors at the Customs port of El Paso, and on March 19, 2001, Customs inspectors Larry White, Salvador Ramirez, and Gustavo Garcia kicked off a two-week training regimen for 31 anti-drug officials from Nicaragua, Panama, Guatemala, and Costa Rica. The first week, Customs trainers provided classroom instruction and demonstrated the right ways to employ the new interdiction technology. Trainers staged these first "how-to" exercises outside on non-suspect vehicles parked near the U.S. Embassy in Managua. Good practice, but no surprises.

Photo Credit: Gerald L. Nino

DEA Special Agent Doug Cortinovus, DEA Intelligence Specialist Eli Lopez, Customs Inspector Gustavo Garcia (red shirt), Senior Customs Inspector Salvador Ramirez, and Customs Inspector Larry White pictured here with cocaine and heroin seized during training exercise.

On March 27, Inspector White suddenly increased the stakes when he brought his "students" to the Penas Blancas Border Crossing that links Nicaragua with Costa Rica. One minute Inspector White was showing Nicaraguan police officers how to use the new "Buster" drug detector on a refrigerator tractor-trailer rig with a Guatemalan tag; the next minute, the Buster suddenly spat out a positive reading, and Inspector White and his NNP trainees were out of school and back in the real world, in possession of a trailer White knew might be loaded with illegal drugs.

School's out
Inspector White climbed inside the trailer and crawled along the top of the cargo load until he reached the spot exactly underneath the place his Buster had told him was "hot." He got the same readings on the inside of the trailer roof, and knew he had a reason to drill. The drill bored easily through the inner lining, punched through a second layer of steel, and then hit what years of experience told White were bundles of something that didn't belong in the roof of the rig.

"The drill bit came out with white powder on it, and then powder started spilling out of the hole," says White. "I was almost too excited to speak, but I asked for a test kit to confirm the find. There were several students in the truck with me, and they were sure it was cocaine."

It took a while to find a test kit - there hadn't been a seizure at that cargo lot for more than a year - but when White and his group got a positive field test result for cocaine, it was evident that a new team with a decided advantage had taken charge. White and his team discovered a total of four compartments concealed in the roof of the tractor-trailer rig, laminated between foam and sheet metal panels. Each compartment had a storage capacity of 70 kilos, and by the end of the day, law enforcement personnel had removed and confiscated 250 bundles of cocaine with a total weight of 271 kilos and one bundle of white heroin approximately ¾ kilo in weight.

Lessons learned
Few inaugural missions are as successful as the one undertaken that day by the new Mobile Inspection Team and its Customs trainers. Without the new Buster, the other tools and technology provided by the United States, and the expertise of a group of Customs inspectors from El Paso, 271 kilos of cocaine and a bundle of heroin would have passed undetected on its journey north.

Photo Credit: Gerald L. Nino

The "Buster" drug detector at work.

Today, the NNP and their Mobile Inspection Team are operating independently, employing the Buster and its companion technology with the skill and confidence of experienced anti-drug officers. Recently, the same Mobile Inspection Team stopped another rig in the same location and, using the Buster, discovered and seized another load of illegal drugs - 1,092 kilos of cocaine.

Thanks to Customs, the NNP is fighting a new battle in Nicaragua today, stopping drugs at a place where there used to be little resistance. In the meantime, Inspector White and his team of trainers from the Customs port of El Paso have added a new level of meaning to a commonplace phrase - the next time they're asked to provide "on-the-job training," they'll know exactly what to expect.