The feds suspected the speedboat was smuggling drugs. Then came the shots and the fire

Jose Gregorio Salazar was driving a blue-camouflaged, low-riding speedboat designed to blend in with the ocean last month about 40 nautical miles north of Aruba.

It was exactly the type of vessel smugglers use to sneak cocaine, marijuana and other contraband from South America to the United States.

The three-engine vessel was covered and heading north at around 30 knots with three other men on board, all the while being tracked by a member of the U.S. Coast Guard riding on a Royal Netherlands Navy helicopter.

Special Agent Jacob Kyer, with Coast Guard Investigative Services and based in the Florida Keys, wrote in his Oct. 15 arrest complaint against Salazar that the boat “was characteristic of ‘go-fast’ vessels used for drug smuggling in the Caribbean.”

The Dutch Navy chopper flew just above the boat and the crew called on VHF radio to the go-fast to stop. The helicopter crew then held up a sign with the U.S. Coast Guard flag on it that read “STOP,” according to Kyer’s report.

When the boat kept going, a gunner aboard the helicopter fired six machine gun bursts in front of the vessel’s bow. But the driver not only kept going, he increased his speed and employed “evasive maneuvers, including rapid small turns,” Kyer wrote.

Then, a Navy sniper shot at the engines eight times. The final shot hit one of the outer engines, causing it to explode and catch fire.

Salazar ran to the back of the boat and pulled the fuel lines and sprayed gasoline all over the vessel to make the fire spread, according to Kyer’s report.

All four men jumped overboard, and the boat became engulfed in flames and sank.

If the boat was smuggling drugs, the evidence burned with the go-fast. The men could have faced sentences as high as life in prison, depending on their haul.

Instead, only Salazar, a Venezuelan citizen, has been arrested, and not on smuggling charges. He faces a count of failing to obey an order from a federal law enforcement officer to heave his vessel. The charge is punishable by up to five years in prison.

Salazar’s attorney, federal public defender Stewart Abrams, did not immediately respond for a request for comment.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Lurana Snow ordered that Salazar, 42, be held on $250,00 bond Monday from the Key West federal courthouse. His next court appearance is scheduled for 2 p.m. Oct. 29 in Key West.

This story was originally published October 16, 2018 at 12:39 PM.