
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 19, 1995                   TAG: 9508210063
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE: SAN DIEGO                                 LENGTH: Medium

U.S. HAULS IN 12-TON COCAINE SHIPMENT

The U.S. Coast Guard has seized a smuggling ship carrying more than 12 tons of California-bound cocaine off the coast of Peru, the largest seizure of cocaine on the high seas in the history of U.S. law enforcement, federal officials said Friday.

The smuggling vessel was towed into San Diego on Thursday after being intercepted three weeks ago. The operation remained a secret until Friday. Operating under maritime law that permits drug interdiction in international waters, a U.S. Coast Guard boarding team from a Navy cruiser found the cocaine - which has an estimated street value of $143 million - hidden in two compartments in a waste oil tank, authorities said.

``This is an extraordinary situation,'' said U.S. Attorney Alan Bersin, who convened a waterfront news conference in front of the vessel, the Nataly I. ``There have been maritime seizures before, but this was one is enormous.''

The 10-man Colombian crew of the Panamanian-registered fishing ship was arraigned on drug trafficking charges in San Diego federal court Friday.

A federal official confirmed Friday that the Coast Guard had intercepted another fishing vessel carrying two or three tons of cocaine and was towing the second captive vessel to San Diego.

Investigators suspect that the Nataly I was linked to the Cali cartel of Colombia, according to federal law enforcement sources. The historic seizure could represent another blow to the increasingly battered Cali organization at a difficult moment. The cartel, which authorities say controls most of the world's cocaine market, has been hit by arrests of top leaders during the past two months and an investigation of drug corruption that has reached all the way up to the Colombian president.

The smuggling flow has slowed, partly because Colombian police have arrested six of the original seven cartel bosses. Only kingpin Helmer Herrera remains at large.

by CNB