JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin visited Cecil Airport in Jacksonville on Monday to see a demonstration of the U.S. Coast Guard’s HITRON squadron at work.
HITRON, which stands for Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron, is the only squadron in the Coast Guard deploying airborne use of force for counter-narcotics operations. Essentially, its crews shoot out engines of boats they believe are carrying drugs.
“We’re giving the secretary a demonstration of how we shoot from the helicopter, and how we do tactics in terms of chasing a drug boat and stopping them in the water to prepare them for a boarding,” said Capt. Kent Reinhold.
Action News Jax’s Madison Foglio was the only reporter to speak one-on-one with the secretary during his visit.
“It’s amazing when we start looking at the amount of drug interdictions and the trafficking that they stop,” Mullin said. “They hover around 50% to 60% of all the drugs and human trafficking that has stopped coming to our coastline just right here out of this one unit.”
Foglio asked Mullin to respond to criticism from the media that DHS has provided little evidence to prove the boats being targeted are in fact carrying drugs.
“Well, that’s where the training goes into place. While we’re out there, we’re looking at it. They’ve got to physically see it with their eyes,” Mullin said. “They also give plenty of warnings to the vessel to stop before they take it out. And then when they do, they do everything they can to prevent any type of casualties.”
The Coast Guard says HITRON has made more than 1,000 interdictions of suspected narco-trafficking vessels.
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