CUTTER SCOOPS 3 TONS OF COCAINE OUT OF SEA

SAN DIEGO - A San Diego-based Coast Guard cutter is heading home laden with
more than three tons of baled cocaine scooped out of the ocean off Mexico.

Authorities estimate that the 7,276 pounds of drugs would have sold for
$256 million on the streets.

The haul stands among the largest cocaine seizures or recoveries along the
Pacific Coast in the past year, said Jamie Devitt-Chacon, spokeswoman for
the Coast Guard station in San Diego.

Fifty floating bales were first spotted by an Alaskan-based Coast Guard
plane that was flying over the ocean Jan. 30 some 300 miles southwest of
Acapulco, Mexico. That crew relayed the information to the cutter Chase,
which was on routine patrol in the area, Devitt-Chacon said.

The next day, the Chase crew started hauling bales out of the water, and it
ended up with 116 cocaine bales on board. The cutter's crew searched for
the source of the drugs, boarding several vessels in the area, but came up
with no suspects.

Devitt-Chacon said the Chase has remained on patrol as it heads for San
Diego. It is expected to arrive by Monday morning, when the drugs will be
handed over to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The cocaine recovery is one of five over the past year that topped the
one-ton mark, Devitt-Chacon said. The five seizures together totaled more
than 63,000 pounds, or about 31 tons.