At the same time, "Samarkanda" left from Tumaco, Colombia under the command of Marco Antonio Lopera-Penago with the intentions of smuggling cannabis to Juneau, Alaska. William Perka served as navigator and William Terry Hines, a San Rafael, California diesel mechanic served as engineer. Both Hines and Perka had served aboard "Samarkanda" before. The ship loitered off the coast of Colombia for three weeks. During that time a DC-6 aircraft made four trips dropping bales in shrimp nets, totalling about 634 bales of cannabis worth $6–7 million. The crew used a small boat to retrieve the bales. The plane also dropped a package giving instructions to "Samarkanda" to rendezvous with another ship.