THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 19, 1995 TAG: 9508190069
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO LENGTH: Short : 32 lines
Federal officials, with the help of a Norfolk-based ship, have seized a record 12 tons of cocaine from a freighter they escorted from South American waters to San Diego, the U.S. attorney said Friday.
The seizure from the vessel Nataly I is the largest seizure of cocaine on the high seas in U.S. history, U.S. Attorney Alan Bersin said.
Ten Colombian crewmen taken from the ship were arraigned in San Diego Friday, each on one count of cocaine possession with intent to distribute. They were being held in San Diego without bond.
The Cape St. George, a guided-missile cruiser based in Norfolk, first encountered the Panamanian-registered vessel July 25 about 780 miles west of Peru. During a consensual boarding, members of the U.S. Coast Guard performed chemical tests that suggested the ship was carrying cocaine, Bersin said.
During the next two days, members of the Coast Guard and Navy discovered numerous 50-pound bundles of the drug hidden in two secret compartments.
The Panamanian government authorized the United States to tow the Nataly I to San Diego and prosecute its crew members under U.S. laws, Bersin said. by CNB