COAST GUARD SEIZES COCAINE WORTH $50 MILLION OFF COLOMBIA

MIAMI -- Coast Guard officers arriving in South Florida over the weekend
brought 3,400 pounds of cocaine seized in two separate smuggling attempts
foiled off Colombia's coast.

The total haul turned over to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officers
Sunday is worth an estimated $50 million on the streets, officials said.

Coast Guard officers carried the large white bricks off the Portsmouth,
Va.-based cutter. Each brick was wrapped in a translucent cloth bearing the
name of a rice company.

In both incidents, on Sept. 19 and Oct. 4, Coast Guard helicopters spotted
speedboats loaded with cocaine off Colombia's coast, officials said. The
smugglers tossed the cocaine off their boats after being spotted and sped
toward shore, where they were arrested by Colombian authorities, officials
said.

"The disruption of those vessels is very significant," Coast Guard Cmdr.
Charley Diaz said. "Finding these guys was like finding a needle in a
haystack."

Two people were taken into custody by Colombian authorities in each
incident for a total of four arrests, officials said.