United States v. Eligio Palmer-Contreras and Jose A. Casanova Ortiz

Defendants appeal from the denial of pretrial bail. We review the background.

At the detention hearing, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent Rodriguez testified as follows. Based on intelligence information provided by United States Customs, surveillance was conducted of a pier at Las Croabas, Fajardo, Puer-to Rico. On October 1, 1987 at 11:15 p.m., a 23-foot boat was observed coming into port without navigational lights. Customs agents searched the vessel, finding radios of the sort used for communicating with planes and 195 kilos of cocaine. On a wholesale basis, the cocaine is worth…