It was ludicrously out of place, a white shrimp boat with canvas canopy chugging through the Gulf of Maine, 120 miles northeast of Boston. It flew no flag, bore no name and carried no fishing gear. The reason the craft had sailed so far north became immediately apparent once suspicious Coast Guard officers went aboard and sniffed the air: below deck were 859 burlap bales containing 25 tons of pot
. (estimated market value: $15 million). The capture of the shrimp boat and its Spanish-speaking crew this month was the largest single drug seizure ever made in New England, but it was only the latest sign that drug smuggling along the region's seacoast has swelled to a high and threatening tide. In the past twelve months, the feds have captured 14 vessels destined for New England carrying a total of 82 tons of marijuana. Most of the pot comes from Colombia, Jamaica and Mexico, and it is usually transported on small boats from southern waters (although two years ago a light plane flying grass from South America was seized after landing in Bedford, Mass.).
