COAST GUARD, BRITISH NAVY NAB HUGE COCAINE LOAD

MIAMI - The Coast Guard and British Navy joined forces to seize 4,673
pounds of cocaine from a freighter as it traveled through the Caribbean,
the U.S. Coast Guard said today.

The seizure took place Saturday, but was announced on Tuesday.

The Coast Guard said the drugs were seized from the Panamanian-flagged
coastal freighter Adriatik off St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands after
a U.S. Navy aircraft flying on a drug surveillance mission spotted it
northwest of Trinidad on Nov. 9.

A Coast Guard spokesman said he had no information about what led the Navy
plane to direct the British warship HMS Northumberland, with a Coast Guard
team on board, to intercept the Adriatik.

The Adriatik was traveling from Baranquilla, Colombia, to Suriname and then
to Europe.

The Coast Guard cutter Valiant took over the escort of the freighter to St.
Thomas and the search. Its crew found the cocaine in one of the Adriatik's
wing tanks on Nov. 13. The ship's 13 crew members were arrested and the
drugs turned over to the FBI and Drug Enforcement Agency.

U.S. authorities have estimated the value of such a haul of cocaine at as
much as $300 million to $400 million.