1.   In addition, drug cargoes captured recently are about twice as large as those of the past.

2.   Officials disclosed in a federal court hearing the Encounter Bay had been under U.S. surveillance since it was loaded with the drug cargo in Vietnam.

3.   They usually plead guilty or are convicted and are sent to prison under mandatory sentencing laws whose harshness depends on the size of the drug cargo seized.

4.   With that information in hand, it became a simple matter to land drug cargos of a ton or more on isolated beaches here.