San Diego

A Nicaraguan man and an Ecuadorean man were indicted Friday in federal court in San Diego on one felony charge each of possessing about 15 tons of cocaine at sea, federal prosecutors said.

The Nicaraguan, Horacio Velarde-Gavarrette, 47, and the Ecuadorean, Bolivar Wilson Guerrero-Mosqueda, 42, were each charged with possessing the cocaine on a ship with intent to distribute, Assistant U.S. Atty. Bruce Smith said.

According to the indictment, a Coast Guard crew aboard the Navy cruiser Arkansas requested--and was granted--permission on Sept. 11 to come aboard a Honduran-flagged merchant ship, the Nordcapp, about 400 miles south of Acapulco. Both ships were on the high seas.

Upon boarding, Velarde-Gavarrete told the Coast Guard crew that the Nordcapp was on fire. Shortly after rescuing all members of the Nordcapp crew, the ship sank, the indictment said.

Later, according to the indictment, U.S. agents learned the ship was scuttled because it was carrying 13,636 kilograms--about 15 tons--of Colombian cocaine. The indictment alleges that the cocaine was to have been loaded into smaller boats and smuggled into the United States.

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, which put the wholesale value of the cocaine at $20,000 per kilogram, said it was worth about $273 million at that price.

Both men are being held without bail pending a hearing Nov. 16, Smith said. If convicted, each could be sentenced to life in prison and receive a $4-million fine, he said.