U.S. Indicts Tour Operator

The owner of Invader Cruises, a popular San Diego harbor tour company, was indicted along with three others Friday on charges of smuggling $10 million worth of high-grade Thai marijuana into the country in 1986 aboard his yacht.

According to the indictment issued by the U.S. attorney’s office, Lawrence Briggs, 49, and three accomplices used two ships, including Briggs’ million-dollar yacht, the Neptune’s Chariot, to smuggle 4 tons of the drug from Thailand to Hawaii, where it was transferred to another boat and transported to the mainland.

The Neptune’s Chariot was seized Friday in San Diego by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Also indicted were Robert Pippinich, 47, the captain of the tugboat El Greco, also allegedly used in the scheme; Jeffrey Fay, 43, a crew member from Kona, Hawaii, and Frank Appodaca, who is accused of offloading the drugs. If convicted, each faces a sentence of 30 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Briggs was in custody but the others were still at large Friday.

Two others allegedly involved in the smuggling ring were convicted last year in separate cases in a continuing DEA investigation that involves several multi-ton loads of marijuana smuggled into the United States and Canada during the 1980s. Authorities have refused to speculate whether Brian Peter Daniels, identified as the source of the marijuana, and James Hoppe will testify against the four indicted Friday.

Assistant U.S. Atty. Pat Swan said Briggs is accused of carrying the marijuana from Thailand to Hawaii aboard his 75-foot custom yacht. At a rendezvous point near Hawaii, the drugs were transferred to the El Greco and taken to Terminal Island near Long Beach, where they were unloaded onto trucks, Swan said.

From there, the shipment was driven to a Victorville ranch, where it was stored and distributed, authorities said.

Invader Cruises offers private and public tours of San Diego Bay as well as popular 2 1/2-hour nighttime rides that leave the dock at 11 p.m. and feature reggae and rock music played by local deejays.

In 1983, however, the cruises were canceled for two weeks because Briggs was concerned that the boats could be seized under the federal government’s “zero tolerance” crackdown, which allowed for confiscation of any vehicle or boat on which even a trace of illegal drugs is found. Briggs said he feared having his boats confiscated if any of his customers brought drugs aboard.

“I can see the handwriting on the wall,” Briggs said at the time. “I’m not about to risk losing any of my ships.”