US Customs is responsible for monitoring all incoming air and maritime traffic, including the island of Puerto Rico as a US territory. Puerto Rico offers potentially obscure points of entry to drug smugglers. This environment sets forth a formula for an illegal drug trade - based relatively near the continental US. The US Customs Caribbean Air and Marine Operations Center (CAMOC), located in Puntas Salinas, has the charter to monitor maritime and Air Traffic Control (ATC) radars. The CAMOC monitors ATC radars and advises the Air and Marine Branch of US Customs of suspicious air activity. In turn, the US Coast Guard and/or US Customs will launch air and sea assets as necessary. The addition of a coastal radar and camera system provides US Customs a maritime monitoring capability for the northwestern end of Puerto Rico (Figure 1). Command and Control of the radar and camera is executed at the CAMOC, located 75 miles away. The Maritime Microwave Surveillance Radar performs search, primary target acquisition and target tracking while the Midwave Infrared (MWIR) camera performs target identification. This wide area surveillance, using a combination of radar and MWIR camera, offers the CAMOC a cost and manpower effective approach to monitor, track and identify maritime targets.
As a means to detect drug trafficking in a maritime environment, the Counter Narcotic Acoustic Buoy is part of an inexpensive system designed to detect "Go Fast" boats and report via satellite to a designated location. A go fast boat for this evaluation is defined as any boat with twin 200 horsepower outboard engines. The buoy is designed for deployment in salt water at depths ranging from 50 to 600 feet and can be easily deployed by one or two persons. Detections are based on noise energy exceeding a preset level within a frequency band associated with the go fast boat's acoustic signature. Detection ranges have been demonstrated to greater than three nautical miles.
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