Nation In Brief : Louisiana : Large Cocaine Haul Ends in Conviction

Nine Colombians arrested on a ship carrying a record six tons of cocaine have been convicted in New Orleans of possessing the drug with intent to distribute it. The ship’s master, seven crewmen and the 26-year-old cook, who is 8 1/2 months pregnant, could be sentenced to life in prison. They were convicted Thursday by a federal court jury after a seven-day trial. All nine were arrested last Oct. 2 by the Coast Guard, which said the 12,000 pounds of cocaine was a record confiscation from a ship boarded at sea. The defendants said they did not know there was cocaine in the locked containers loaded onto their ship at Barranquilla, Colombia. Prosecutors said it was doubtful the owner of $600-million worth of cocaine would have entrusted it to a crew he did not know.