[JeffL]

Agents Seize Cocaine from Tanker
Fri Jan 17,11:26 AM ET

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. Customs Service agents, local police and the U.S. Coast Guard (news - web sites) seized 133 pounds of cocaine valued at about $6 million from the Panamanian-flagged oil tanker Hero in the port of Corpus Christi, Customs Service officials said on Thursday.

Two duffel bags containing 43 bundles of cocaine were found in the ship's water pump intake valves by divers, they said.

Prior to arriving in Corpus Christi, the tanker's last stop was Venezuela and it was scheduled to return there. The ship and crew were released because the cocaine was found on an exterior area of the ship not under the crew's control.

Cocaine has been seized on oil tankers over the last three years in ports in Texas, Louisiana, California and New York.