U.S. SEIZES COLOMBIAN SHIP AND THREE TONS OF COCAINE IN PACIFIC

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- A 72-foot Colombian fishing ship that authorities claim
was used to supply fuel to smaller drug smuggling boats has been seized
along with 5,300 pounds of cocaine off the west coast of Panama, U.S.
officials said Tuesday.

A U.S. Coast Guard anti-smuggling team on board a Navy ship also arrested
13 Colombians who will face federal drug charges that carry possible life
sentences, Gregory Vega, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District, said
at a news conference.

The seizures and arrests took place Sept. 11 in international waters 240
miles west of Panama, but the Navy ship carrying the prisoners and
contraband arrived Tuesday in San Diego.

Large seizures of cocaine have become common in the Pacific in recent years
as Colombian drug organizations use the region to avoid more intense
anti-drug patrols in the Caribbean, said Coast Guard Capt. Chip Sharpe.

Authorities believe the drugs are carried in small boats to Mexico, then
shipped to the United States, which gives U.S. authorities the jurisdiction
to prosecute the smugglers arrested in international waters, Vega said.

But the large expanses of open water create the need for the drug smugglers
to station refueling ships along the route. The 72-foot Gran Tauro was one
of these "floating gas stations," Vega said.

The rusting Gran Tauro carried 1,000 gallons of gas, even though it had a
diesel engine that couldn't use the fuel, said Coast Guard Capt. Chip Sharpe.

A group of Navy ships led by the USS De Wert came across the Gran Tauro and
a smaller motorboat while on an anti-smuggling patrol in the western
Pacific. As a Navy helicopter approached, the five men on the smaller boat
began throwing the cocaine overboard.

The 5,300 pounds recovered would have had a street value of up to $530
million if sold in the United States, authorities said.

The 13 arrested on the two ships are expected to be arraigned Wednesday.