Barge Loaded With Hashish, Marijuana Seized in S.F. Bay

Federal agents seized 45 tons of marijuana and hashish Tuesday and arrested five family members, including the former cellmate of “The Falcon and the Snowman” spy Christopher Boyce.

Thirty tons of hashish and 15 tons of marijuana were under the deck of a barge seized along with its 72-foot tugboat as it slipped beneath the Golden Gate Bridge.

The primary suspect, Calvin Robinson, 47, of Corning, Calif., was servinga federal forgery sentence at Lompocin 1980 when his cellmate, Boyce, escaped. Boyce, made infamous in the book and motion picture “The Falcon and the Snowman,” was recaptured in 1981 and is imprisoned in Illinois.

Robinson was cleared of charges of aiding in the escape and was released from Lompoc in 1980. He had been under investigation for three months on the basis of tips and suspicious cash transactions.

Robinson’s tugboat, the Intrepid Venture, left San Francisco Bay on May 6 and at some point about 1,000 miles offshore rendezvoused with a larger vessel and took on the illicit cargo, officials said. The larger vessel eluded the Coast Guard.

Arrested with Robinson were his son, William, 25, of Vacaville, Calif.; nephews Frank Robinson, 25, of Corning, and John Robinson, 23, of Santa Rosa, Calif., and a stepson, Wesley Bastin, 25, of Corning.

The Coast Guard estimated the wholesale value of the drugs at $162 million.