Tag Archives: Crime

You know the C20, eh?

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The Colt Canada-produced C20 semi-automatic Intermediate Sniper Weapon is being acquired for the Canadian Army in small numbers.

Produced domestically by Colt Canada in Kitchener, Ontario, the semi-automatic C20 has an 18-inch barrel with a 1-in-10 twist and is reportedly pretty friggen accurate. Testing showed the rifle to fire 8,000 rounds with no stopping and deliver an average of .66 MOA over 144 five-round groups using 175-grain Federal Gold Medal Match.

The overall length on the C20 is 38-inches while weight is 9.1-pounds. It has a 46-slot continuous MIL-STD-1913 top rail and a handguard with M-LOK accessory slots in the 3-, 6-, and 9-o’clock positions. (Photo: Colt Canada)

More in my column at Guns.com. 

Not bad for a narcosubmarino

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Spanish authorities arrested two citizens of Ecuador near the beach of O Foxo, Galicia on 24 November. Their ride? A scuttled 66-foot narco submarine carrying over three tons of coke. It is believed to be the first such craft to be seized from Latin America in Europe.

The Guardia Civil is currently trying to figure out if it was launched from a mother ship or made the entire journey on its own. Keep in mind that it is roughly 5,000 miles from the northeast tip of South America to Spain in a straight line. With an average speed of about 10 knots, said narco boat likely took more than three weeks to make a solo crossing only to be seen at the end of its run after things didn’t work out.

Meanwhile, the USCG recently popped a similar such craft in the Eastern Pacific, where they are increasingly common. How long before these are seen in asymmetric warfare by users carrying dirty bombs into a vital port or chokepoint?

Yikes

U.S. Coast Guard boarding team members climb aboard a suspected smuggling vessel in September. Crews intercepted a drug-laden, 40-foot self-propelled semi-submersible (SPSS) in the Eastern Pacific carrying approximately 12,000 pounds of cocaine, worth over $165 million and apprehended four suspected drug smugglers. (U.S. Coast Guard Photo)

All tricks, no treats: Coasties chalk up another sneaky narco sub, making 43 total

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The Alameda, California-based USCGC Waesche (WMSL-751), one of the new 418-foot Legend-class National Security Cutters, offloaded 39,000 pounds of cocaine Thursday at Naval Base San Diego– including a large bust from a narco sub.

The self-propelled semi-submersible, or SPSS, was stopped in the Pacific Ocean off Central America on September 6.

Upon sighting the vessel, the cutter launched two fast pursuit boats with boarding teams and an armed helicopter crew to interdict the SPSS. Five suspects, apprehended by the Coasties (where are you going to go in open ocean?) attempted to scuttle the dope boat as water filled the smuggler to just below the helm.

Waesche crew members boarded the sinking vessel and were able to dewater it using portable pumps, allowing boarding officers to safely remove over 5,600 pounds of cocaine from the SPSS. It is the sixth such submersible captured this year by the service and the 43rd total.

According to a fact sheet from the service, Coast Guardsmen apprehended a total 585 suspected drug smugglers in Fiscal Year 2016– a new record for the service, up from 503 suspected drug smugglers last year.

Pharmacist 1 Armed Robber 0

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In a tranquil village in Arkansas, the friendly neighborhood druggist was opening his shop on a Friday morning. Then a man, masked and armed, came out of nowhere and changed his life.

If you have ever been to Eastern Arkansas, opposite of the Mississippi river, you know how calm and quiet the area is once you get away from the big cities. The town of Dumas, in Desha county, whose population is but 4700, is one of the calmest. If you saw the 2011 film Mud, in which Matthew McConaughey stars in a retelling of the Huck Finn tale, then you have been to Dumas.

You see, the film was shot on location there and many of the local buildings and residents made cameos.

In this hamlet is a pharmacy, Meadors, located on Waterman Street downtown. It’s the kind of place that small towns live around.
Where gruff old timers gather to talk and relive war stories over a cup of coffee. Where everyone passes through at least once a
month. Stand still and you will see the whole town from Meador’s counter, one person at a time. The pharmacist’s name is Bill
Canada and on Friday October 18, 2013, the harsh reality of the world reached out and shook him…
Read the rest in my column at Firearms Talk.com