COCAINE TRIAL ENDS WITH SPLIT VERDICT

They hugged. They cried. They slapped each other on the back, gazed up to
heaven and smiled.

Then five Colombian sailors acquitted Friday of trying to smuggle nearly 5
tons of cocaine aboard a rusty fishing trawler surrounded two other crew
mates who were convicted and held them in a tearful embrace.

Those two face 10 years to life in prison. They are the captain of the
trawler Rebelde, Hemino Ruiz Ibardo, and Angel Quinones, accused of being a
frontman for Colombia's Cali drug cartel.

With a split verdict, both sides claimed a win Friday.

"From our perspective this was a victory, a net gain," Assistant U.S.
Attorney Joe Ruddy said. "These were the principal people, the main
individuals involved in the operation."

Defense attorney Daniel Castillo, whose client, Jose Learcio Lopez, was one
of the five sailors acquitted, saw it differently.

He said the jury believed defense claims that the Rebelde's crew were
dupes, sacrificed to federal authorities by an imprisoned Colombian drug
lord desperate to earn a reduced sentence.

"The jury knew this was a setup," Castillo said. "These guys never even saw
the cocaine."

The Rebelde was intercepted Feb. 16, 2000, about 400 miles off Mexico
during an antidrug patrol by a U.S. Navy frigate. Authorities found it
loaded with nearly 5 tons of cocaine.

The ship was the first seized in a series of high-seas drug busts conducted
under a Tampa-based investigation code-named Operation Panama Express, one
of the biggest U.S. drug probes ever. The operation's target is the Cali
cartel's new strongman, Joaquin Mario Valencia-Trujill, authorities say.

The Rebelde's seven crew members, all from Buena Ventura, Colombia, were
charged with conspiracy and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute.

Ibardo was convicted of conspiracy only, and Quinones of both charges. They
will be sentenced later.

Acquitted were Lopez, Sigfrido Saavedra Zambrano, Juan Lerma Cabezas,
Gustavo Rivas and Javier Caicedo. They were detained pending deportation to
Colombia.

Defense attorneys claimed the crew members were patsies, handed to federal
authorities by Jose Castrillon, a former strongman in the Cali drug cartel.

Castrillon was indicted by a federal grand jury in Tampa in 1998. Facing
life in prison, he has been cooperating with authorities and has persuaded
a number of relatives and former business associates to do the same.

Lopez and the others acquitted should be freed immediately, said Castillo,
the defense attorney.

"They were kidnapped on the high seas and brought to this country," he
said. "They couldn't convict them, and they won't let them walk out the
front door of the courthouse."

During the three-week trial, Ruddy focused on Quinones, who he said boarded
the Rebelde at sea - along with the cocaine - from small "go-fast" delivery
boats.

Quinones was aboard on behalf of the Colombian drug kingpins to make sure
the cocaine was delivered, Ruddy said.

Authorities have so far stopped 80 tons of cocaine with a market value of
$1.6 billion from entering the United States, he said.