COCAINE CARTEL CRACKDOWN NETS 7 SUSPECTS IN PACIFIC

Seven more foreign sailors were seized in the eastern Pacific and brought
2,000 miles to a Tampa courtroom to face drug-smuggling charges Monday,
apparently as part of an ongoing investigation being run from Tampa into
Colombia's Cali cocaine cartel.

The seizure brings to 10 the number of vessels boarded by U.S. agents off
the coasts of Ecuador and Colombia in the past year. It also brings to 58
the number of crewmen arrested and brought to U.S. District Court here. The
government has hinted that more arrests might be coming.

Prosecutors and agents refused for months to say how the cases are linked.
Nor would they say how they learned of the shipments or where the cocaine
was headed.

But two FBI agents recently testified that the seizures are tied to the
cartel investigation. The organization has been smuggling vast amounts of
cocaine into the United States for years.

One agent said the seizures are linked to the arrest two years ago of
suspected drug lord Jose Castrillon-Henao. Prosecutors have said
Castrillon-Henao was in the top echelon of the Cali cartel and in charge of
its maritime smuggling.

One of Castrillon-Henao's associates who is also in custody is known to be
cooperating with the investigation. And court documents suggest that
Castrillon- Henao might also be helping.

Since February, agents have confiscated about 19 tons of cocaine in the
operation, including more than three-quarters of a ton recovered during the
last seizure.

A Navy vessel spotted the vessel - an unflagged speedboat, or ``go-fast
boat,'' as the government calls them - hundreds of miles off Colombia and
Ecuador on Dec. 18, Assistant U.S. Attorney James Preston said in court Monday.

Preston said the Navy ship pursued the speedboat, and when the boat didn't
stop, a helicopter was dispatched to intercept it. The crewmen dumped their
cocaine overboard and tried to scuttle the boat, Preston said.

Warning shots were fired to stop the boat, Preston said. Eventually it was
boarded by a Coast Guard crew who approached in an inflatable boat, Preston
said.

Of the seven sailors charged, six are Colombian and one is Mexican. They
are Nargel Paredes, Manuel Antes Garces, Luis Eduardo Martinez Renteria,
Luis Rodriguez Estupinan, Silvio Orejuela Ceron, Luis Miguel Porto-Carredo
Estupinan and Jesus Alberto Barrasa Mesa.

All are charged with conspiracy and possession of cocaine aboard a vessel
with intent to distribute it. The Navy took them to Panama, where they
arrived Friday. From there, they were flown to MacDill Air Force Base.

U.S. Magistrate Mark Pizzo on Monday ordered them held without bail,
despite pleas from some of their attorneys that they be placed in a halfway
house to await trial.

Their next court appearance is Feb. 1.