ANDOVER MAN ON SHIP THAT SEIZED $300M IN COCAINE

ANDOVER - A local Coast Guardsman was part of the crew that made the
largest maritime cocaine bust in history last week.

Seaman Brian DeCourcy, a 2001 Andover High School graduate, and his
crewmates on the USS Sherman seized a boat carrying 21 tons of
cocaine off the coast of Panama, along a popular drug-running route
from Colombia to the United States. The drugs had a wholesale value
of about $300 million.

"I was very, very proud of him," said his father, Jack DeCourcy of
Andover. "These are young kids that are on these ships, and they're
doing a great job."

Brian DeCourcy, 24, joined the Coast Guard last September after four
years working as an EMT in Lowell.

"He really enjoyed the work, but he wanted to see the world," his
father said. He also wanted another job that would involve saving lives.

DeCourcy was assigned to the Sherman in December. The cutter has been
on patrol off South America since January, his father said. In those
two months, the Sherman has made three drug seizures, according to
the Department of Homeland Security.

The crew of the Sherman and another vessel, the USS Hamilton,
intercepted and boarded the Panamanian ship Gatun on March 17 and
found the cocaine in two hidden containers. The Sherman made the raid
despite having lost one of its main engines and its water-making evaporators.

Fourteen people were arrested in the raid - three Panamanians turned
over to their government and 11 from other countries who were taken
to Tampa, Fla., for prosecution.

Jack DeCourcy, a former FBI agent, found out about the raid from the
parents of another seaman.

Brian does not tell him much about his work except to send home
official Coast Guard press releases, his father said, and they have
only talked briefly since then.

"He said, 'I have plenty to tell you when I get back,'" Jack DeCourcy said.

Brian DeCourcy will return to Andover next month.

John Doherty, the town's veterans services director and a former drug
prosecutor, praised his work.

"This is a world-class bust," he said.