Pubdate: Wed, 15 Oct 1997 Source: The Herald, Everett, WA Contact: Webpage: http://www.heraldnet.com Baling out the Bust Everettbased Navy crew unloads about $165 million in confiscated cocaine A sailor from the USS Callaghan unloads one of 121 bales of confiscated cocaine on a San Diego dock on Tuesday. By JIM HALEY Herald Writer An Everettbased Navy destroyer, on its last major trip before decommissioning, docked on Tuesday at San Diego with a 3.5ton gift for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. "If you put it in Northwest terms, it's the size of two cords of wood," USS Callaghan skipper Cmdr. James Rennie said of 121 bales of cocaine his crew recovered Sept. 27 while chasing smugglers off the coast of Colombia. Tuesday morning, 121 of Rennie's sailors, each wearing white rubber gloves and shouldering a plasticwrapped bale of highgrade cocaine, marched off the ship and piled the bales on the dock for the press to see. The Navy estimated the street value of the confiscated drugs at about $165 million, making it one of the biggest seizures in recent years by American military forces off South and Central America, and the largest this year in the eastern Pacific Ocean. "It was a very big morale booster," Rennie said of the effect on Callaghan crew members, who will see their ship decommissioned March 31. DEA officials loaded the bales into a rented moving truck. The cocaine will be tested for what officials said are "signature" processing and packaging clues before being incinerated. "We consider this a significant seizure," said DEA specialagentincharge Tom Telles. Although the Navy doesn't have law enforcement authority, the U.S. Coast Guard does. The Callaghan carried a detachment of Coast Guard personnel from Corpus Christi, Texas, on a sixmonth deployment that included four months on drug patrol. Callaghan Seaman Apprentice Brandon Barto, 26, said it was one of the most unusual duties in his naval career. "I thought it was weird, but everybody was pretty proud," the Colorado native said. Locked in a torpedo magazine while the Callaghan headed back to the U.S., the drugs were a topic of fascination for crew members, he said. "But it wasn't like we could just go in there and look at them when we wanted to," Barto said. The bales each valued by the Navy at about $1.5 million were seized during a druginterdiction operation 250 miles off the South America coast. They had been dumped into the Pacific from a speed boat heading west from the direction of Colombia, presumably to rendezvous with a cargo vessel farther at sea. The four people aboard the 45foot speed boat dumped the cocaine to lighten the load and avoid capture. Rennie said the speed boat, powered by four 150horsepower outboard motors, was spotted before dawn on radar 14,000 yards off the Callaghan's bow and crossing in front of the destroyer. Rennie gave the order to pursue it. The Callaghan travels well over 30 miles per hour, and the speed boat was making less than 30 mph until its crew spotted the destroyer at daylight. "She saw us and decided it was time to start getting rid of the dope," Rennie said. Bale after bale of shrinkwrapped and rubbercovered cocaine was heaved overboard as the speed boat set a zigzag course in an attempt to evade the large vessel. With a lighter load the Vhulled speed boat was able to outrun the Callaghan, which launched its helicopter to follow the fleeing vessel. When the helicopter ran low on fuel, a Navy patrol airplane assisted. The speed boat eventually got away, Rennie said. Meanwhile, the Callaghan returned to look for the floating bales. "It was like, 'Hey, there's one. And there's another one. Holy cow, look at all this,' " Rennie said. "Everybody was real excited." The Callaghan is scheduled to return to Everett Oct. 23. It will probably go on one more port visit to Vancouver, British Columbia, in December, Rennie said. The ship then is expected to undergo three months of overhaul work getting it ready for decommissioning March 31. The Callaghan, commissioned in 1981, is one of two Kiddclass destroyers based at Everett that were originally built for the Shah of Iran. The Callaghan and the destroyer USS Chandler instead were added to the American fleet after the shah was deposed and U.S. relations with Iran soured. The Associated Press contributed to this report.