Pubdate: Thu, 27 Jul 2000 Source: Tampa Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2000, The Tribune Co. Contact: http://www.tampatrib.com/ Forum: http://tampabayonline.net/interact/welcome.htm Author: Sarah Huntley, Tampa Tribune 10 DRUG-SMUGGLING SUSPECTS NABBED AT SEA, LANDED IN FEDERAL COURT HERE TAMPA - Ten Men Are Added to the Growing List of Sailors Arrested in the Pacific and Brought to Tampa on Drug Charges Ten more sailors found themselves sitting in a federal courtroom in a foreign land Monday, listening as translators read an indictment accusing them of hauling cocaine on the Pacific Ocean. The men have been in U.S. custody since July 11, when Coast Guard officials boarded their 76-foot fishing vessel in the eastern Pacific. The interception, according to the indictment, resulted in the discovery of more than 1/2 ton of cocaine. It took 15 days for the Coast Guard to transport the men to Tampa, where they join 30 other defendants arrested in what has become a perplexing series of seizures being orchestrated by a multiagency federal task force. In the past five months, prosecutors here have filed charges against 40 defendants, intercepted seven boats and seized nearly 18 tons of cocaine in what the U.S. attorney's office will describe only as an ongoing investigation. Federal authorities will not say what is leading them to make the seizures. In all cases, the boats were intercepted in the eastern Pacific, usually off the coast of Ecuador, thousands of miles from Tampa, and then brought to Florida through the Panama Canal. Both sides agree that the defendants didn't think they would end up in the United States. According to defense attorneys, most were hired from pools of men who gather at docks looking for work aboard fishing vessels that often are at sea for weeks at a time. The 10 latest defendants are: Luis Fernando Roldan Velasquez, Franklin Sanchez Aragon, Tito Plunio Sinisterra Solis, Ricardo Hurtado Gaitoto, Pedro Caicado Murillo, Hipolito Morillo, Alexander Rascus Salazar, Rafael Perez Norena, Jose Miguel Arias and Julio Cesar Diaz. Ages and hometowns were not available. If convicted, each faces a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum fine of $4 million. The first public indication of the ongoing operation was in February when the Coast Guard boarded the Rebelde, a trawler flying a Colombian flag, and brought the crew to Tampa. The Rebelde allegedly was carrying nearly 5 tons of cocaine. A month later, authorities seized the Layneyd, a shrimper said to be carrying nearly 4 tons of cocaine. Prosecutors acknowledged that those two seizures were connected but declined to provide details. Four speedboats were intercepted in the same general area last month. The cases have resulted in a host of legal questions about whether the government had proper jurisdiction to board the vessels. Attorneys for several of the sailors have said the prosecution effort amounts to "piracy on the high seas." The court has not ruled on any of the defense challenges. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager