SHIP'S OFFICERS GUILTY OF DRUG SMUGGLING

Freighter Toted Coke

A federal jury Tuesday convicted the officers of a Panamanian freighter for
their roles in a maritime drug-smuggling operation but found that a
deckhand had no knowledge the ship's cargo was cocaine.

China Breeze Capt. Sergiy Kurdyukov, third officer Oleg Khmyznikov and
second officer Sergiy Kruglyak were convicted of conspiracy and
distribution as a part of a Greek group that ferried at least 10 tons of
cocaine to the United States and Europe within a year.

The 510-foot ship was stopped May 27 by the British Navy's HMS Marlborough
south of Puerto Rico after naval personnel received a bulletin from the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Members of a special U.S. Coast Guard drug-interdiction team, who were
aboard the British ship, boarded the China Breeze and found four tons of
cocaine in 40 to 50 bundles inside inoperable sewage tanks. The ship also
carried legitimate cargo -- 16,000 metric tons of raw sugar.

The U.S. Customs Service seized the China Breeze when it docked at
Galveston on June 6.

Prosecutor Eric Reed said the ship was typically loaded with the cocaine at
sea via speedboats, and the cocaine was similarly taken ashore at its final
destination.

Two other men, Nikolaos Papadimitriou and Edilson Bustos- Useche, pleaded
guilty to conspiracy and trafficking before the trial began.

U.S. District Judge Lynn Hughes will sentence the men next year.