Gerald Patrick Hemming, 43, a Caribbean mercenary now living in Opa-locka, has been arrested in Palm Beach Country and charged with drug trafficking.

Hemming, held on $200,000 bond in the Palm Beach County jail, was arrested Monday, almost three hours after allegedly piloting a drug-laden twin-engine plane into the Lantana Airport, police said.

A mechanic working on Hemming's plane noticed a cargo of 728 pounds of marijuana and notified sheriff's deputies.

A search also turned up 177 pounds of Quaaludes in the aircraft.

The drugs and plane were confiscated.

Hemming became known almost two decades ago as an anti-Castro mercenary in the Caribbean and once allegedly led a raid on Cuba during the 1962 missile crisis.