A U.S. Coast Guard vessel intercepted an Ecuadorean-flagged boat carrying three tonnes of cocaine worth about $95 million in an operation coordinated with Ecuador, the South American country's police said on Wednesday. The cocaine smuggling boat was intercepted in international waters, apparently while it was on course for the Colombian Pacific Ocean port of Tumaco, the police said in a statement, carried by Reuters, but did not specify the date of the operation. Agents arrested 12 people on board the boat, including seven Ecuadoreans. The remaining five refused to give their nationality, Reuters said. This was the second recent significant drug bust made in joint Ecuadorean-U.S. operations. Last month, authorities seized seven tonnes of cocaine south of the Galapagos Islands. --SP 2240 Local Time 1940 GMT
