HALF-TON OF COCAINE SEIZED IN PA. TOWN

LEBANON, Pa. -- Federal agents seized a half-ton of cocaine that was
welded inside a bolt-cutting machine and shipped from Venezuela to a
warehouse in this south-central Pennsylvania town. David Barasch, U.S.
attorney for Pennsylvania's Middle District, said yesterday that two
men had been arrested: Sergio Germade, 31, of Huntington, Conn., and
Juan Duina, 54, of Buenos Aries, Argentina.

"This cocaine seizure represents the largest drug seizure anyone can
recall in this area," Barasch said.

If convicted of possession with in tent to distribute, the two men
face maximum penalties of life imprisonment and fines totaling $4 million.

Barasch says the street value of the 450 kilograms of cocaine is in
the tens of millions of dollars. He said authorities learned about the
shipment when it reached the Port of Baltimore several days ago. It
was then hauled by truck to an empty warehouse in Lebanon.

The cocaine was packed in tight bundles wrapped in green plastic and
brown tape, then welded into the machine.

For three days, agents with the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration,
Customs Service and local police staked out the warehouse, once
belonging to the now-abandoned Bethlehem Steel plant, before moving in
and making the arrests Wednesday.

Nearly a dozen police cars and as many as 30 agents, detectives and
police officers swarmed a vehicle that was backed up against the
building and arrested Germade and Duina.

Authorities would not disclose who was renting the warehouse from the
Lincoln Fifth Corp., which owns the property.

"There's been a lot of people sitting around watching lately," said
Jim Gilley, a worker at a nearby manufacturing plant. Authorities said
they did not believe that the cocaine was intended for distribution
in the mid-state area. Barasch said the investigation was continuing.
Federal authorities in Caracas, Venezuela, where the shipment
originated, are also involved in the investigation.

South-central Pennsylvania, where several major interstate highways
intersect, is a major distribution point for trucks hauling goods in
the mid-Atlantic region. Barasch said the area attracts drug dealers
moving large shipments.

"If anyone is thinking of turning south-central Pennsylvania into some
kind of transportation hub for drugs, they better think again," he
said.

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady