5 Tons of Thai Marijuana Seized on Calif.-Bound Ship

Five tons of Thailand marijuana, with a street value estimated between $16 million and $45 million, have been seized aboard a Southern California-bound cargo ship, federal drug officials said Thursday.

The seizure Tuesday, 800 miles south of Hawaii, culminated a Los Angeles-based federal undercover investigation begun last winter, said assistant U. S. Attorney Brian Sun. In addition to the confiscation of the potent marijuana, eight people have been arrested and a warrant for another has been issued.

According to Sun, representatives of the smugglers approached two undercover Drug Enforcement Administration officers seeking a ship and crew to transfer the marijuana on the high seas and transport it to shore once it reached the Oxnard-Ventura area.

Drug officials still are not sure whether the drug would have been broken down into ounce-sized packages or sold at a less expensive, bulk retail rate, explaining the variance in its estimated value.

Arrested were William Herbert Pintard of Carpinteria and Steven Paul Valot of Honolulu, the smugglers’ Los Angeles and Hawaiian contacts; Dan Lind, a suspected collaborator; Thomas Leo Tobin, captain of the Line Island Trader, and the other four crew members. Still at large is Byron G. G. Evans, owner of the ship.

Evans was previously arrested in 1982 in a hashish smuggling venture that involved a ship on which Tobin was first mate. The Line Island Trader was formerly known as the Pikes Arm, which according to court documents was also identified in another smuggling scheme.

More arrests might be forthcoming, officials said. Arraignment on the smuggling charges is scheduled for April 28 in Los Angeles.

“With 10,000 pounds coming in, we think it will make some kind of impact on the distribution of marijuana in Southern California,” said drug enforcement spokesman Dwight McKinney.