DRUG-SMUGGLING SUSPECTS ARRESTED; CUSTOMS AGENTS, POLICE SAY COCAINE SEIZED ON DOCK, BOAT.Byline: Don Holland Daily News Staff Writer In what officials say is a major drug seizure for the area, authorities arrested two seamen and confiscated con·fis·cate tr.v. con·fis·cat·ed, con·fis·cat·ing, con·fis·cates 1. To seize (private property) for the public treasury. 2. To seize by or as if by authority. See Synonyms at appropriate. adj. nearly 20 pounds of cocaine smuggled smug·gle v. smug·gled, smug·gling, smug·gles v.tr. 1. To import or export without paying lawful customs charges or duties. 2. To bring in or take out illicitly or by stealth. aboard a cargo ship. U.S. Customs agents making routine checks late Wednesday night along the docks in Port Hueneme Port Hueneme (wī'nē`mē), city (1990 pop. 20,319), Ventura co., S Calif., on the Pacific coast; founded 1870, inc. 1948. It has an artificial deep-sea harbor and is the site of a huge naval construction-battalion (Seabee) center. found Tetika Ienraoi, 26, carrying about 4 pounds of cocaine, said Detective Sgt. Jerry Beck of the Port Hueneme Police Department. Officials said a deckhand, Matagofie Limoni, 42, also was carrying 4 pounds of cocaine and was arrested. Authorities said they found more cocaine when they searched Ienraoi's cabin. They estimated the total value at $150,000 to $175,000. ``It's one of the largest (Customs) seizures in Ventura County,'' said Jim Donahue, resident agent in charge of the U.S. Customs station in Oxnard. Port Hueneme police, who aided in the arrests, said the haul may be a record for the city. ``For our department, it's one of the largest ever, without a doubt,'' said Beck. Ienraoi, a seaman SEAMAN. A sailor; a mariner; one whose business is navigation. 2 Boulay Paty, Dr. Com. 232; Code de Commerce art. 262; Laws of Oleron, art. 7; Laws of Wishuy, art. 19. The term seamen, in it most enlarged sense, includes the captain a well as other persons of the crew; in a more confined aboard the vessel Hansa Bremen, is from the South Pacific island nation of Kiribati. Limoni, who also worked aboard the same ship, is a citizen of Tuvalu, near Samoa. Both were arrested on suspicion of transportation of narcotics narcotics n. 1) techinically, drugs which dull the senses. 2) a popular generic term for drugs which cannot be legally possessed, sold, or transported except for medicinal uses for which a physician or dentist's prescription is required. and possession for sale. The haul was enough for the U.S. Attorney's Office to consider filing federal charges on the pair, Donahue said. The ship, which has German registry, made its last stop in Guayaquil, Ecuador, where it took on a load of bananas ba·nan·as adj. Slang Crazy: "That's the horrible thing when you're bananas . Investigators are following up leads and may make additional arrests. |
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