4 ms·

My bet is they were doing a drug run. From what I hear runners will leave drugs tied to buoys off uninhabited islands and they’ll be picked up by small boats. T

My bet is they were doing a drug run. From what I hear runners will leave drugs tied to buoys off uninhabited islands and they’ll be picked up by small boats. They don’t bring drugs onboard in case they’re searched. I wouldn’t be surprised if they got scared when they saw the coastguard and cut the load. Just like Han Solo. Edit - that could also explain the ‘shark attack’ story - a loose load tied to one side could bump and damage the hull. They’re trying to cover if someone notices, instead of saying ‘Oh I misjudged a channel width once and bashed the side’.

simplicio 9y ago
Why come up with an elaborate story that would garner maximal attention if they were smuggling? If they'd already tossed the goods than they could just tell the CG they were recreational sailors. No need for a headline grabbing tale of survival. Plus they really seem to have been at sea for six-months. If you're smuggling I assume you want to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible and get rid of the goods, not drift around the Pacific with the contraband.
- stevenwoo 9y ago
  When they showed pictures of the dogs bounding off the boat I was suspicious - they would have to have been fishing constantly while awake to keep two dogs that healthy that long (based on the food supply in news reports) and the two women in no way resembled the other sunburned, lips chapped, emaciated seafaring people who have been rescued after months at sea.
- ss248 9y ago
  If they were actually smuggling, they were not smuggling just for themselves. Obviously they are just doing errands for some kind of criminal organization. And they just lost a lot of expensive stuff that belongs to that criminal organization. When they go back and higher ups will know about it, these two lasses are basically dead. So they created this story and tried to get as much attention as possible, hoping that it will help them avoid the imminent punishment.
- 6nf 9y ago
  They may have done several successful smuggling runs in those 6 months. They just didn't want to explain their wherabouts so they came up with the lost at sea story.
- rdiddly 9y ago
  That seems pretty common with people inexperienced at lying to authorities. Cops let's say. People try to pre-emptively come up with explanations for things they think the cop is going to wonder and ask about. Which of course does nothing but reveal to the cop what issues are preoccupying the mind of the liar. Also for whatever reason those stories always run to the extravagant and complicated, rather than simpler & more plausible explanations. (Or the obviously best policy of just S'ing TF U.) If I had to speculate why that is, I'd say it's probably that whoever decides they need to intervene to shape the narrative, already has an overinflated sense of how valuable and beneficial their story (and their talking in general) is to the outcome. Once you've decided the thing that will set things right and save you, is your gums, flapping, then why not go whole-hog? Obviously more of a good thing is better! (They think.)
- SZJX 9y ago
  Maybe they just want to be famous so that the kingpins can't just kill them off easily then. Just as people claim one reason for Abramovic buying Chelsea is so that he becomes famous and can't be easily purged in the Russian political circles.
leroy_masochist 9y ago
Drug trafficking is a sophisticated, multi-tens-of-$bn international industry run by intelligent, ruthless people. Although I do not speak from experience, I find it impossible to believe that anyone who needed to move a 50-foot boat load of narcotics would have hired these prevaricating morons.
- sitharus 9y ago
  They often do for the end-drops in to countries that have strong anti-drug forces. You don't want your competent people arrested, jailed or executed.
  - leroy_masochist 9y ago
    I get why it would make sense to employ mules who are credibly non-narcotraficante-ish. I just don't think anyone with access to thousands of pounds of illegal drugs would be dumb enough to entrust the payload to these two.
- antod 9y ago
  I think you're overestimating the competence of some (not all obviously) of the people who end up doing the actual last mile part of these operations: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11656081 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objecti... Whenever something like this happens, the people at risk of getting caught seem somewhat 'disposable'. (huge bias involved of course - the competent ones aren't caught anywhere near as often)

simplicio 9y ago

Why come up with an elaborate story that would garner maximal attention if they were smuggling? If they'd already tossed the goods than they could just tell the CG they were recreational sailors. No need for a headline grabbing tale of survival. Plus they really seem to have been at sea for six-months. If you're smuggling I assume you want to get from point A to point B as quickly as possible and get rid of the goods, not drift around the Pacific with the contraband.

stevenwoo 9y ago
When they showed pictures of the dogs bounding off the boat I was suspicious - they would have to have been fishing constantly while awake to keep two dogs that healthy that long (based on the food supply in news reports) and the two women in no way resembled the other sunburned, lips chapped, emaciated seafaring people who have been rescued after months at sea.
ss248 9y ago
If they were actually smuggling, they were not smuggling just for themselves. Obviously they are just doing errands for some kind of criminal organization. And they just lost a lot of expensive stuff that belongs to that criminal organization. When they go back and higher ups will know about it, these two lasses are basically dead. So they created this story and tried to get as much attention as possible, hoping that it will help them avoid the imminent punishment.
6nf 9y ago
They may have done several successful smuggling runs in those 6 months. They just didn't want to explain their wherabouts so they came up with the lost at sea story.
rdiddly 9y ago
That seems pretty common with people inexperienced at lying to authorities. Cops let's say. People try to pre-emptively come up with explanations for things they think the cop is going to wonder and ask about. Which of course does nothing but reveal to the cop what issues are preoccupying the mind of the liar. Also for whatever reason those stories always run to the extravagant and complicated, rather than simpler & more plausible explanations. (Or the obviously best policy of just S'ing TF U.) If I had to speculate why that is, I'd say it's probably that whoever decides they need to intervene to shape the narrative, already has an overinflated sense of how valuable and beneficial their story (and their talking in general) is to the outcome. Once you've decided the thing that will set things right and save you, is your gums, flapping, then why not go whole-hog? Obviously more of a good thing is better! (They think.)
SZJX 9y ago
Maybe they just want to be famous so that the kingpins can't just kill them off easily then. Just as people claim one reason for Abramovic buying Chelsea is so that he becomes famous and can't be easily purged in the Russian political circles.

leroy_masochist 9y ago

Drug trafficking is a sophisticated, multi-tens-of-$bn international industry run by intelligent, ruthless people. Although I do not speak from experience, I find it impossible to believe that anyone who needed to move a 50-foot boat load of narcotics would have hired these prevaricating morons.

sitharus 9y ago
They often do for the end-drops in to countries that have strong anti-drug forces. You don't want your competent people arrested, jailed or executed.
- leroy_masochist 9y ago
  I get why it would make sense to employ mules who are credibly non-narcotraficante-ish. I just don't think anyone with access to thousands of pounds of illegal drugs would be dumb enough to entrust the payload to these two.
antod 9y ago
I think you're overestimating the competence of some (not all obviously) of the people who end up doing the actual last mile part of these operations: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11656081 http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objecti... Whenever something like this happens, the people at risk of getting caught seem somewhat 'disposable'. (huge bias involved of course - the competent ones aren't caught anywhere near as often)