COAST GUARD FINDS 9,500 POUNDS OF COCAINE ON VESSEL

HOUSTON, TEXAS -- Law-enforcement agencies seized 9,500 pounds of
cocaine, worth up to $186 million, after an inspection at sea of a
Houston-bound cargo ship.

Coast Guard officials boarded the Panamanian-registered bulk cargo
carrier Jan. 13 for a routine inspection and found the cocaine hidden
among a cargo of iron ore, they said Thursday.

The ship was boarded 125 miles southwest of Jamaica.

Authorities believe that the iron ore was loaded in Brazil on Dec. 20
and that the ship's last port of call before the inspection was in
Trinidad on Jan. 6. The Coast Guard received permission from Panama to
apply U.S. law, and it escorted the ship as it continued its voyage.

U.S. Customs agents took charge of the drugs and opened an
investigation in cooperation with the Drug Enforcement
Administration.

Five members of the 24-member multinational crew have been
arrested.