COCAINE SEIZED FROM BOAT OFF MEXICAN COAST

MEXICO CITY - Mexican authorities intercepted a shrimp boat carrying 6 tons
(5.5 metric tons) of cocaine off the Pacific coast, Mexico City media
reported Wednesday.

The "Valeria" from the port city of Mazatlan, Sinaloa, was stopped in
international waters Tuesday and taken to a naval base at Lazaro Cardenas,
220 miles (350 kms) southwest of Mexico City.

Naval and port authorities and agents from the federal attorney general's
office found the cocaine in the boat's cargo area.

The find is one of the largest offshore cocaine seizures in recent months,
the daily Reforma reported. Agents seized more than 8 tons (8 metric tons)
of the drug from a fishing boat in December. Months earlier, authorities
searching another boat found 9.5 tons (8.6 metric tons).

Drug investigators say that since late 1998, Mexico's Pacific coast has
become an important shipping route for Colombian cocaine bound for the
United States due to increased law enforcement pressure along the eastern
Yucatan Peninsula.