More Cans of Marijuana Wash Up on Rio Beaches, American Arrested

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AP) _ Two more two-pound cans of marijuana were found near a Rio beach Tuesday and police arrested an American crewman from a yacht that they say may have dumped 22 tons of the canned drug into the sea.

Stephen Skelton, who had been a cook aboard the Panamanian-registered yacht Solana Star, was arrested Tuesday, police said. Skelton’s hometown was not given and police gave no further details of his arrest.

They said six other Americans from the Solana Star apparently left Brazil in early September.

The two latest cans packed with marijuana were found by surfers in waters off Rio’s famed Ipanema Beach. Since Friday, police have found 20 cans of the drug on Rio’s beaches.

But thousands of the cans of marijuana have washed up along a 400-mile stretch of Brazil’s southern Atlantic coast over the past two weeks.

Navy ships and helicopters are patroling the shoreline, hoping to find more of the cans. Many civilians flocked to the coast over the weekend in search of the valuable marijuana.

Geovanni Azevedo, a spokesman for Rio’s federal police, said investigators believed the crew of the Solana Star, en route from Singapore to the United States, dumped the marijuana when the vessel’s motor broke down in Brazilian waters.

He told reporters Skelton confirmed the yacht had engine trougles, but said Skelton insisted he was hired in Australia and ″had no idea what cargo the boat was carrying.″

If convicted on drug trafficking charges, Skelton could serve up to 15 years in prison, Azevedo said.

He said it was believed the other crew members fled Brazil for New York, Puerto Rico and Mexico and added it was not known why skelton remained here.