US embassy cable - 02TEGUCIGALPA2966

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TEGUCIGALPA 002966 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEA WASHDC FOR SARI, OFC/MCMANUS AND HOBAN, NIBM FOR CASTO 
AND SZULIM, NIBC FOR WOMBLE, NIAM 
DEA MEXICO FOR ORTEGA AND VILLALOBOS 
DEA BOGOTA FOR BASILE AND WILSON 
DEA HQS PLS PASS TO PHOENIX FIELD DIV FOR DAWSON 
DEA HQS PLS PASS TO MIAMI DIV GROUP 42 FOR SANES 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: NONE 
SUBJECT: AIRCRAFT DOWN IN HONDURAS AND THE SEIZURE OF 3.3 
KILOS OF COCAINE, GFTI-98-8001/WEC1F/OPERATION WAHOO 
 
REF: TEGUCIGALPA TWX 01053 DATED 052018ZAPR02 
 
1. On October 16, 2002 at approximately 11:30AM, a white 
Cessna aircraft traveling northbound was observed by 
witnesses decending over Honduran territory in the vicinity 
of San Jose de La Landa, Honduras.  During the descent 
witnesses observed a suitcase being thrown out of a side door 
of the aircraft. The aircraft subsequently conducted an 
emergency landing (131088N/0871466W) at a hacienda identified 
as La Bodega. The ground was saturated in deep mud at the 
time of the landing.  Witnesses reported seeing a fire rise 
from the area where the aircraft came to rest. 
 
2.  Hours later at approximately 4:00PM local, a Honduran Air 
Force (HOAF) helicopter was observed landing at the site 
remaining for at least 30 minutes.  Witnesses believe that 
only military personnel were initially present at the site. 
Most witnesses were away from the wreckage at the time and 
did not know if anything was removed. Police eventually 
arrived at the scene later that day. 
 
3.  Police do not believe the fire was a result of the crash 
as the wings were left intact adjacent to the charred remains 
of the fuselage loaded with fuel. The rear portion of the 
plane still connected to the aircraft had a heavy smell of 
cocaine.  Several used cans of butane and shreds of 
string/rope were located in the wreckage suggesting the 
traffickers were prepared to burn the aircraft in the event 
of an emergency. 
 
4.  The police arrested two subjects at an unspecified time 
after landing.  Both subjects were taken into custody 
approximately six kilometers from the aircraft site walking 
through farm land.  The pilot was identified as Luis Mauricio 
PALACIO-Giraldo (NADDIS 3070303).  NADDIS records indicate 
that PALACIO is a registered Pilot from Colombia.  The 
passenger was a Guatemalan citizen identified as Jose Ramon 
GAMBOA-Lara. Identifying data on the arrested subjects can be 
found in the indexing section. 
 
5.  PALACIO appeared visibly nervous during questioning.  The 
pilot claimed they departed from San Jose, Costa Rica and 
were destined for Guatemala to display the aircraft to a 
potential buyer.  PALACIO stated he did not know GAMBOA very 
well as GAMBOA was only an agent for the sale of the 
aircraft.  PALACIO was visibly disturbed when police 
questioned him on the submission of a flight plan.  When 
PALACIO was asked who contracted him to fly the plane, 
PALACIO immediately asked for a lawyer.  GAMBOA immediately 
asked for a lawyer when questioned about his association with 
PALACIO. 
 
6.  On October 17, a story appeared in the local newspapers 
reporting the downed aircraft.  Rather than receiving timely 
notification from the Honduran authorities, the TCO found out 
about the incident from the newspaper report. 
The TCO/TAT then inquired with El Centro de la Informacion 
Conjunto (CEINCO) on their knowledge of the issue.  CEINCO is 
the Honduran Joint Intelligence Center (JICC) that acts as a 
central conduit for information sharing and dissemination. 
CEINCO claimed to have no prior knowledge of the incident. 
CEINCO informed the TCO that Police Commander 
Maradiaga-Pancheme in Choluteca, HD most likely acted 
unilaterally to initiate the investigation. 
 
7. The TCO learned that on the morning of the 17th of October 
a team composed of one fiscal and other law enforcement 
personnel found 3.3 kilos of cocaine in the charred remains 
of the aircraft.  Information also indicated that the HOAF 
once again arrived on the scene early that day. 
 
8.  On the afternoon of October 17, 2002, DEA I/A Domingue 
and TAT I/A Scholl traveled to the site accompanied by 
Comisario Jorge Carrias of CEINCO and Comisario 
Maradiaga-Pancheme, Police Chief in Choluteca, HD. Upon 
arrival at the site I/A Domingue retrieved numbers from the 
aircraft motors.  Number 110079 was located on the aircraft 
motor housing.  Number 43371100202 was found on a second 
device attached to the motor.  A third item was documented 
under part# 420930 and associated with serial# FF1093. 
9.  The Honduran police report dated October 18, 2002 
indicated at 13:00 hours on October 16, 2002, police from 
Department Number 6 received a phone call informing officers 
of the downed aircraft.  The report infers from witness 
accounts that PALACIO and GAMBOA burned the aircraft to 
destroy evidence. Police officers seized $5,300.00 from 
PALACIO and $1,940.00 from GAMBOA.  In addition a Garmin GPS 
and two Nokia cell phones were seized.  The report indicated 
that Honduran Air Force Helicopter 971 was deployed in 
response to the ingress of the unauthorized aircraft after it 
was detected on radar.  Colonel Sarmiento Santos Moya, Major 
Juan Ramon Bautista, Lieutenant Noel Matute Baquedano and 
mechanic Walter Matute were documented as being aboard the 
responding helicopter. 
 
10. Dissemination of information by the Honduran Defense and 
Security agencies is a continuing problem despite the 
thousands of dollars that are invested to create an effective 
operational network.  Information accuracy and timeliness 
rank as top deficiencies that obscure interdiction courses of 
action and chain of command accountability.  There have been 
two prior air ingress events in which Honduran Defense and 
Security agencies failed to intervene or follow up (see ref). 
 The TCO later discovered that the Police Director and the 
Minister of Security were informed on Oct 16 of the event yet 
failed to make agreed upon notification to the TCO.  Several 
meetings between U.S. and Honduran officials to formulate 
response procedures and solidify a timely dissemination cycle 
have produced no improvement.  The TCO is left to conclude 
there is an extreme level of apathy about informing the TCO 
or the Honduran authorities purposely choose not to inform 
the TCO. 
 
11. The seized cocaine was tested as positive on October 22, 
2002 by the Criminal Laboratory of the Ministerio Publico. 
The cocaine evidence was assigned control number 6368-2002. 
The TCO will obtain the telephone numbers stored in the 
memory of the seized cellular phones and GPS information to 
exploit for intelligence value. 
 
12. Pursuant to the DEA Agents Manual, section 6242.11, this 
twx is submitted in lieu of a DEA-6. 
 
13. Any questions concerning this cable can be directed to 
C/A Tom Berger, S/A Ivan Rios or I/A John Domingue at 
(301)985-9321. 
 
INDEXING 
 
1.  Palacio-Giraldo, Luis Mauricio - NADDIS 3070303 
    DOB: August, 25, 1961 
    Associate: Jose Ramon Gamboa Lara 
 
2.  Gamboa-Lara, Jose Ramon - NADDIS NEGATIVE 
    DOB: July 17, 1978 
    Nationality: Guatemala 
    Guatemalan Passport#: 009623701 
    Guatemalan ID Number: A-1962370 
    Associate: Luis Mauricio Palacio-Giraldo 
 
 
 
 
 
 
PIERCE