Pubdate: Wed, 20 Dec 2000
Source: Spokesman-Review (WA)
Copyright: 2000 Cowles Publishing Company
Contact:  P.O. Box 2160 Spokane, WA 99210
Fax:  (509) 459-5482
Website: http://www.spokesmanreview.com/
Forum: http://cg.zip2.com/spokane/scripts/community.dll?ep=1

SMUGGLERS ARE SWALLOWING ECSTASY

WASHINGTON _ The Customs Service says it is seeing a growing number of 
cases where airline passengers are swallowing the hallucinogenic drug 
ecstasy in an effort to smuggle the illegal tablets into the United States.

"The use of `swallowers' in ecstasy smuggling schemes is cause for serious 
concern," said Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "This technique has long 
been a hallmark of the heroin and cocaine trade, sometimes with fatal 
consequences for the couriers paid to perform this risky service."

In the 2000 fiscal year, customs officers seized a record 9.3 million 
tablets of ecstasy, a huge increase over 1999's 3.5 million tablets.

So far this year, customs has encountered 16 cases in which airline 
passengers tried to smuggle ecstasy into the country by swallowing the 
drug. Four of those cases occurred in December, most recently on Saturday, 
when customs agents at JFK Airport in New York recovered 31 pellets filled 
with 676 ecstasy tablets from a woman arriving from the Netherlands.

Last year, customs reported no such incidents, said spokesman Dean Boyd.

Customs had its first encounter with ecstasy swallowers in March. 
Inspectors caught two men at JFK Airport who had swallowed a total of 2,800 
tablets contained in sausage-shaped casings called pellets.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart