22771: (Hermantin) Sun-Sentinel-120,000 buys `hijacked' ship (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

120,000 buys `hijacked' ship

By Michael Turnbell
Staff Writer
Posted July 23 2004

A 200-foot freighter allegedly hijacked in Haiti at the height of the
government crisis in February has a proud new owner.

But not for long, if he has anything to say about it.


Jean-Patrick Maignan, a North Miami Beach businessman, snagged the vessel
Margot at a government auction Thursday at the Broward County Convention
Center in Fort Lauderdale.

The winning price: $120,000.

As the auctioneer at the head of the huge ballroom pointed out: "It's only
money."

Maignan was among about 480 people from around the country who came to bid
on cars, diamond rings, Rolex watches and bottles of liquor and more unusual
items from airplane parts to 193 cartons of women's underwear -- all seized
by U.S. Customs and Border Protection or Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, both arms of the Department of Homeland Security, or the
Internal Revenue Service.

A former teacher in Haiti and store clerk who now makes his living buying
unusual goods and reselling them for a profit, Maignan plans to unload the
Margot as soon he can find a buyer in the United States.

Like many of the nearly 300 items sold during the five-hour auction
Thursday, the Margot has quite a story that goes along with the price tag.

The Coast Guard intercepted the Margot in February about 10 miles off
Government Cut in Miami with as many as 17 unauthorized and gun-bearing
Haitians on board and four Haitian passengers. The boat was headed to South
Florida in the midst of violence that preceded Haitian President
Jean-Bertrand Aristide's departure from the country.

Although the ship's crew reported that the vessel had been hijacked, U.S.
officials determined the ship had not been hijacked and that there was not
enough evidence to warrant prosecution of anyone on board. Federal officials
repatriated the 21 Haitians.

The Margot made headlines again in April after officers seized 150 pounds of
cocaine concealed in a hidden compartment under the cargo deck of the
freighter while docked on the Miami River.

But that history didn't stop Maignan from making his winning bid.

"It is the future of the boat that is important," he said.

Some bidders at the auction were secretive, refusing to give their names or
tell what brought them to the auction.

"That's not unusual," said Britney Sheehan, a spokeswoman for the auction.
"They don't want others to know what they're going to bid on because people
will outbid them."

The auction raised $876,155. The money will be used either to pay
restitution to victims or doled out to the law enforcement agencies.

The auction was conducted by EG&G Technical Services, of Gaithersburg, Md.,
which conducts about 300 auctions of goods confiscated by the government
agencies every year.

Michael Turnbell can be reached at mturnbell@sun-sentinel.com or
954-356-4155 or 561-243-6550.

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Copyright © 2004, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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