2 COCAINE BUSTS NET 3 TONS

ST. PETERSBURG - A massive shipment of cocaine and a smaller one were
unloaded Thursday at a Coast Guard station, officials said.

Two suspected smugglers also were brought ashore.

One hundred and four bundles of cocaine were seized March 24 from a
vessel off Honduras; 53 kilograms, about 117 pounds, were seized April
3 from a sailboat 330 miles south of Kingston, Jamaica, Coast Guard
officials said.

The 104 bundles, about 6,000 pounds, have an estimated street value of
$200 million, Coast Guard spokeswoman Tasha Tully said. The 53
kilograms are said to be worth about $3.7 million.

Two people taken into custody in the sailboat case also were brought
to the St. Petersburg Coast Guard station, 1310 Beach Drive S.E., on
Thursday, officials said.

The shipments are the latest seized during Operation Panama Express,
the federal government's Tampa-based effort to confiscate drugs in the
Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea before they reach U.S. shores.