... I'm sure a lot of smugglers would want to fight some american SWAT team in a firefight...
People who doesnt care about such or such reputation to attack an "elite" target are either very idiot, or desperate.
And you are making your whole thing on the fact npcs are weak, players should go hunt them.
They arent afraid of liberty elite pilot? they also have numerous cruiser patrol.
What you say can now be translated into;
latin american gun smugglers driving a heavily armed truck through a secret us army base, swarming with tanks anf foot soldiers...
hm. you might down a few foot soldiers, but im not sure how an armed truck (transporrt) could do against a tank (a gunboat, or a cruiser).
and as blunt said, if you came in with a battleship, it would lack something called subtility, which is rather important in smugling.