5-TON COCAINE BUST IS BIGGEST IN TEXAS

Seized ship under guard in Houston

Federal authorities have seized a Panamanian-flag cargo vessel with nearly
5 tons of cocaine, and officials on Thursday are calling it the largest
cocaine bust in Texas.

The ship, docked at the Port of Houston, was under heavy guard.

A Coast Guard search team found what later proved to be nearly 5 tons of
cocaine during a search at sea 125 miles south of Jamaica.

The ship, put under heavy escort, reached Houston on Wednesday and was
unloaded Thursday as agents in heavy assault gear and carrying submachine
guns patrolled the area.

Rodney Slater, secretary of Transportation, said the bust is the largest
cocaine seizure in Texas and one of the 10 largest in the nation. He
estimated the cocaine's street value at $186 million.

The motor vessel Cannes has been detained, and the Greek master and four
crew members are under arrest, Slater said. The other 19 crewmen are being
questioned. The crew includes several nationalities, but most are
Ukrainian, a Coast Guard official said.

The 580-foot Cannes was also carrying 26,000 metric tons of iron ore,
believed to have been loaded in Brazil for transport to Houston.

The ship's last port of call before being boarded was Punta Buera,
Trinidad, on Jan. 6.

Mayor Lee Brown, a former drug czar in the Clinton administration, said the
seizure sends a message to the shippers that the United States has zero
tolerance "against those who wish to destroy our children."

The size of the shipment, he said, indicates that there have been previous
shipments. "Those who traffic in drugs would not send that much on their
first shipment," Brown said.

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. James M. Loy said a patrol plane spotted the
ship and guided a U.S. Navy patrol boat to the scene, which officials
described as a routine search.

A Coast Guard team aboard the Navy boat was granted permission to inspect
the Cannes, Loy said.

The team found indications that something might be hidden aboard and called
in search specialists who found the cocaine in bales buried beneath five
feet of iron ore.

The Panamanian government then gave permission for Coast Guard officials to
enforce all applicable U.S. laws. The Customs Service and the Drug
Enforcement Administration will investigate the source of the drugs and to
whom they were bound.

Loy said one of the Coast Guard's challenges is "to extend our borders as
far away as possible."

International agreements allow such searches on the open sea, he said, and
had the Cannes captain refused, permission would have been sought from the
Panamanian government, which cooperates in such matters.

Loy said about 70 percent of all drugs come into this country across its
Southwest borders and much of this comes by sea.

U.S. Rep. Gene Green, D-Houston, said the cocaine seizure so far at sea
"proves that with a little more funding and the ability to search more
ships, the Coast Guard might be able to cut down even more on the nation's
drug supply."

Lt. Cmdr. Peter Brown and Petty Officer James Sorenson, who searched the
Cannes, said they look for anything out of the ordinary, such as new
repairs on an old vessel, which might indicate something is hidden behind
the new surface.

Searching the Cannes turned up no new repairs, but Brown said there was
evidence of activity in the No. 2 hold after its cargo was loaded.

Brown said the passageway to the hold was clear, while passageways to the
other holds were choked with boxes, barrels and trash. There were tracks --
iron ore is quite dusty -- indicating that someone had been in the hold.

With these signs to guide them, Brown said, the searchers began probing the
hold full of ore with rods and eventually hit something "that did not feel
like iron ore." Digging revealed bales of cocaine.

Brown said the vessel's crew cooperated throughout the search and the
voyage on to Houston.

He also noted that Coast Guard patrol planes and boats pay special
attention to northbound vessels. He said he has been involved in a dozen
major seizures, including one last October of nearly 7,000 pounds of
cocaine believed headed for Guyana.

National Guardsmen loaded the cocaine here into two large, sealed trucks
for removal from the dock.

Paul Rimmer, director of the Port of Houston, said the cocaine will be
tested and stored in a secure location until the Department of Justice
decides how much to retain for evidence.

The remainder will be burned in an incinerator that will vaporize the drug,
leaving no residue, Rimmer said.