COLOMBIANS ACQUITTED OF DRUG SMUGGLING

TAMPA - The Acquittal Of Five Colombians In A Cocaine Smuggling Case Is The
Second Loss For The U.S. Government In Cases Tried In Tampa

Five Colombian men accused of smuggling cocaine in the eastern Pacific
Ocean will be returning to their small fishing village.

A jury acquitted them of all charges Friday.

Leonel Argulo sobbed, pumped his fists in the air, hugged his attorney and
wailed in Spanish after the verdict was read. Already jailed for more than
five months, he was facing decades in prison.

"This is just one of many cases of individuals being snatched from the
Pacific Ocean with insufficient evidence and brought to our shores to be
tried," said Argulo's lawyer, Roland Hermida.

It appears federal agents have been launching an all-out assault on drug
trafficking in the eastern Pacific this year. Argulo's speedboat was one of
seven vessels seized. Agents say they have confiscated more than 17 tons of
cocaine and arrested 40 crewmen.

But they have refused to say how they learned about the shipments or why
the cases are being tried in Tampa. Even at trial, the government never
revealed where the cocaine in this case was headed or whether the drugs had
any ties to Tampa.

Friday's verdict was the second loss for the government out of three cases
that have come to trial in Tampa. Federal prosecutors have won convictions
in only one.

The Colombians were aboard a speedboat seized about 200 miles off the
Ecuadoran coast. U.S Coast Guard officials testified they spotted the boat
June 17 and found 5,000 pounds of cocaine wrapped in waterproof bales
floating in the ocean nearby.

The five men aboard - Argulo, Henry Rivera, Miguel Benavidas, Augusto
Perdomas and Taylor Urlado - were arrested, taken to Tampa and indicted on
charges of conspiracy and possession of cocaine aboard a boat with the
intent to distribute.

A jury took less than three hours to find them all not guilty. Jurors
declined to comment afterward.

"My client had great faith in our system of justice ... that he would be
found innocent," Hermida said.

Defense lawyers attacked the government's case as weak, sloppy and lacking
any real evidence. They said the men could not have dumped 96 heavy bales
of cocaine in the few minutes between the time Coast Guard sailors spotted
the boat and boarded it.

Their expert witness, a retired U.S. Merchant Marine captain, said it would
have been impossible for the Coast Guard to see the men dumping cocaine
overboard from so many miles away.

Defense lawyers contend the cocaine came from another boat. The same Coast
Guard cutter made similar seizures in the area within days of Argulo's boat
being seized.

Henry Rivera, the only defendant who testified, said he signed up for a
three-day job delivering boat parts. He said he had no idea why he was
arrested and brought to the United States.

"I have never had cocaine. I have never messed with cocaine, never," Rivera
testified Thursday. "Only God knows why I'm here because I've never done
anything like that."

His lawyer, Marcelino Huerta, believes his testimony was crucial.

"I think he had to overcome some perceived prejudice and I believe his
testimony, and the candor of what he said, reached this jury," Huerta said.

This is not the only case of its kind that the government has lost this
year. A judge dismissed the case against four crewman aboard a speedboat
the government called a "floating gas station," in September for lack of
evidence. While agents didn't find any drugs on the craft, they said it was
used to refuel two other speedboats that were smuggling drugs. One of them
was allegedly Argulo's boat.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney James Preston, who also tried this case, won a
conviction in a jury trial in a similar case three weeks ago.

Preston declined to comment on the verdict in this case.