ANOTHER DRUG BOAT SEIZED AT SEA

ST. PETERSBURG - Once again, U.S. authorities intercept a trawler
loaded with cocaine. Once again, they are keeping mum.

For the second time in as many months, federal authorities have
intercepted a worn-out fishing trawler off the coast of Ecuador,
discovered a staggeringly large amount of cocaine on board, arrested
the crew, and towed the vessel 2,400 miles into the Tampa Bay area.

And, yet again, U.S. Attorney Donna A. Bucella was allowing scant
information to be released about the arrests or the seizure.

Her spokesman, David Rhodes, would not even say whether the second
seizure was related to the first.

Last month's cache, described as one of the largest in state history,
amounted to nearly 5 tons.

The cache unloaded at a U.S. Coast Guard port in St. Petersburg on
Friday was smaller, but not by much.

The first estimate put it at 3 tons, but as federal investigators
started finding more of the drug after sawing through the deck, that
number was expected to reach 4 tons.

The decrepit trawler, the 81-foot Layneyd, was about the same size as
the fishing boat intercepted last month, the Rebelde.

As was the case in March, an attachment of Coast Guard investigators
boarded the boat from a U.S. Navy ship off the Ecuadorean coast; for
the Navy to have done so could have been considered an act of war.

And, as was the case in March, the crew members were brought to St.
Petersburg after their boat was stopped April 5. And by the time they
arrived, indictments charging them with drug trafficking had been prepared.

The suspects are: Segundo Quinones, Santos Arroyo, Fernando Tenorio,
Damian Urdinola, Harold Valencia and Cesar Dominguez. Rhodes said he
could not specify their nationalities.

They are charged with possession of cocaine with the intent to
distribute and conspiring to possess cocaine with the intent to distribute.

Federal authorities also intend to seize the Layneyd through
forfeiture.