Pubdate: Wed, 16 Jan 2002
Source: Associated Press (Wire)
Copyright: 2002 Associated Press
Author: Ken Guggenheim

U.S. OFFICIALS SAY HEROIN SEIZURES UP

WASHINGTON - Colombian heroin traffickers are making larger shipments to 
the United States and have gone far beyond their old tactic of having 
couriers swallow drug-filled balloons, officials say.

The change in tactics has helped drive an increase in seizures of the drug 
as traffickers look to meet growing U.S. demand.

"We see indications that they have started to do more bulk shipments, and 
that has led to the increased amount of seizures," Asa Hutchinson, chief of 
the Drug Enforcement Administration, told The Associated Press.

U.S. Customs officials, for example, found a 119-pound shipment in the 
false bottoms of boxes of frozen plantains in a New York-bound cargo ship 
in May. Agents found a 47-pound shipment strapped to the stomachs of four 
cruise ship passengers on arrival in Florida in November.

Traditionally, heroin has been smuggled into the United States a pound or 
two at a time.

"Demand for high-purity Colombian heroin remains as strong as ever in the 
United States, particularly in the Northeast," said Customs Commissioner 
Robert Bonner. "Clearly, Colombian traffickers are doing their best to 
capitalize on that demand."

Customs said seizures of heroin, mostly from Colombia, jumped 41 percent in 
the year ending Sept. 30 to 3,622 pounds. With border security tightened 
after the Sept. 11 attacks, October and November seizures were more than 
double the corresponding period last year.

Preliminary estimates by the White House drug policy office show a 38 
percent increase in heroin seizures during 2001, by Customs and all other 
federal agencies.

Seizures of other drugs, including cocaine, have increased as well, but not 
nearly as much as heroin, said Customs spokesman Dean Boyd.

In addition to using larger shipments, traffickers also are being more 
creative in smuggling heroin, Boyd said. In some cases, they've turned 
heroin into a plastic-like substance and made it resemble computer mouse 
pads or suitcase linings.

Over the past decade, Colombia has supplanted southeast Asia as the main 
source of heroin in the United States and now accounts for almost all the 
heroin in the Northeast. Most of the heroin sold in the western United 
States is from Mexico, generally less pure than Colombian.

A $1.3 billion U.S. anti-drug program in Colombia targets heroin as well 
cocaine. But while spray planes stepped up the eradication of coca, the raw 
material for cocaine, the eradication of opium, the raw material for 
heroin, fell by 75 percent. Officials say they do not know if this 
contributed to increased heroin seizures.

Though cocaine remains much more popular than heroin, the rise in Colombian 
heroin over the past decade has been worrisome. Its high purity allows it 
to be snorted, making it more inviting to drug users - particularly young 
people - who don't want to inject heroin. It also makes the drug more deadly.

A White House drug policy office report last year examining drug use in 21 
cities found heroin availability to be high, but stable. Increases were 
reported in a few cities. None had declines.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth