CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: The U.S. Central Command says the second major drug seizure in the Persian Gulf region in less than a week may have netted as much as $860 million worth of contraband. Coalition forces stopped two vessels and took 21 crew members into custody today. CNN's Holly Firfer reports.</s>HOLLY FIRFER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Running but certainly not hiding. US Navy videotape captured this small craft and crew members dumping what the Navy says is drugs overboard into the north Arabian Sea with coalition forces in hot pursuit. Watch closely as the US forces catch up with the boat, boarding and arresting 7 crew members and seizing what authorities say are several remaining bags of pure heroine.</s>REAR ADMIRAL JIM STAVRIDIS: We received information from a variety of sources that gave us a pretty good location on this dhow as it transited through international waters south of Pakistan. We sent USS Philippine Sea at top speed out of the Persian Gulf. And she intercepted the dhow.</s>FIRFER: The boat was one of two caught Saturday in a bust that netted more than 150, 000 pounds of mephatamines and 21 crew members. All part of what Us forces are calling an expanded Maritime interception operation. In an exclusive interview with CNN, Rear Admiral Jim Stavridis described the pursuit and the capture.</s>STAVRIDIS: We put our Navy teams of special boarding experts, sailors who have been trained in doing this kind of work, they came in small ribs (ph) we call them, high speed boats, they came alongside the dhow and took possession of them, confiscated the drugs and brought these 21 crew members into navy custody.</s>FIRFER: The chase came just days after US authorities seized another small craft, confiscating what the US says was more than $10 million in drugs and apprehending at least three crew members, coalition authorities now link to al Qaeda. According to coalition officials, it was information from the raid that led to Saturday's capture and another success in what may be the newest front on the war on terror. Holly Firfer, CNN, Atlanta.
Drug Seizure in Persian Gulf Nets $860 Million Worth of Contraband