Running a drug lab in international waters?

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rangrz said:
someone like me, if they heard about it, would grab a nice group of former soldiers, and come grab all yo cash and drugs....aka, piracy.
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hahaha that would be fucking hilarious! the thought never even entered my head lol.
 
nice...modern day pirates...the topic fascinates me.

Can I request an inter-thread topic change to modern day pirates? Any anecdotes or stories you have about modern day pirates are welcome! It is a topic I would love to know more about (for whatever reason)!
 
Beenhead said:
One word.

Weather.

And there are international laws of the high seas. Where drugs are illegal as well.
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This. Also, a related US case (1st Circuit, Puerto Rico):

http://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/getopn.pl?OPINION=05-1144.01A

Damien: interesting story, but I can't find anything invalidating any extradition treaties that might exist between the US and the citizen/national of another foreign state. I would imagine (and this is an informal analysis) that the owner or manufacturer of the parts used to create the drug lab, whether they be permanently or temporarily offshore-based, could be held criminally liable under US law should they come in contact with the authorities.

Related reading: blog on the Drug Trafficking Interdiction Law of 2008 (US) - something I wasn't aware existed until I did some resarch.

Operating a drug lab using flammable chemicals on an offshore rig or (heaven forbid) in a submarine just seems like a universally bad idea...

International maritime law is wacky.
 
rangrz said:
someone like me, if they heard about it, would grab a nice group of former soldiers, and come grab all yo cash and drugs....aka, piracy.
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And someone like me, if I were running the drug lab and having already figured on a group of knuckleheads trying something stoopid, would have a nice group of better-trained and -equipped soldiers on staff to shoot yo sorry asses...aka, "a plan." :D
 
Would drug use really come under law of the sea, if you were outside territorial waters? LOTS seems to cover stuff like piracy and right of passage and who exactly owns which part of the sea (due to continental shelf issues).

But my knowledge is very very small indeed.

Ah, looking at the link Mariposa posted, I see "The Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act ("MDLEA") allows the United States to conduct drug law enforcement outside of the United States, and more specifically, exercise jurisdiction over stateless vessels. ". Which seems quite astonishing, but there you go. The US can act outside its jurisdiction, if it wants. Possibly something that could be challenged, I don't know.
 
Slightly tangential while in the same vein:
Did anyone read about an LSD Lab busted/discovered in Iraq!? I could have sworn I read an article on this but can't find it through google anymore.
Acid would be an ideal drug for production and smuggling from a 3rd world country.
 
All the really big labs are in the Marianas trench - subaquatics acid is amazing.
 
it would be pretty damn easy to monitor with a satellite unless you kept on the move
 
Coolio said:
What's the point? Operating a clandestine lab isn't very dangerous in many countries, there are no drug enforcement resources. It's smuggling it into the rich customer nations that's dangerous.

Operating in international waters you never know what kind of pirates or military might sink you. You wouldn't have much legal recourse now would you?
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Nah hombre it's simple. See all you have to do is build some absurdly large floating structure the size of a small town (like something from water world). From this point you could run a full drug cartel with this as your base of operations. Now granted you will need some badass speedboats and weapons but that can all be taken care of in due time.
 
I think the biggest hurdle would be something similar to this:

417px-USS_Elrod_FFG55.jpg
 
self destructing submarine or boat would be a better idea.

and if u were caught with a shitload of drugs, make it self destruct within like 20-30 seconds and swim away fast, so all the evidence would be blown up.

and a cyanide pill on you just incase they caught u red handed with it all in a country where a shitload of drugs meant the death penalty.
 
And with that, our fantastical pipe-dreams have now come to a close.

Best of luck to anyone with plans in the works, just make sure you obey all international laws... ;)
 
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