Pubdate: Wed, 03 Jul 2002
Source: News & Observer (NC)
Copyright: 2002 The News and Observer Publishing Company
Contact:  http://www.news-observer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/304
Author: John Sullivan

$1.4 MILLION IN DRUGS SEIZED IN MILITARY STING

CAMP LEJEUNE - Civilian and military investigators seized more than $1.4 
million worth of illicit drugs and convicted 82 Marines and sailors on 
drug-related charges during a two-year operation, military officials 
announced Tuesday.

The announcement came at the end of "Operation Xterminator," in which 
military and local authorities conducted 150 undercover investigations at 
nightclubs in Wilmington to identify users and distributors of designer drugs.

Ninety-nine civilians were also charged in the operation.

It began in February 2000, when Wilmington police called the Naval Criminal 
Investigative Service and reported that military personnel were frequently 
seen in local clubs where designer drugs were sold and used, said Maj. 
Steve Cox, a spokesman for Camp Lejeune.

By the end of the investigation, officials had arrested nearly 200 people 
and seized cocaine and thousands of pills of ecstasy, LSD and 
methamphetamine, Cox said.

Of the 84 active-duty military personnel charged, 61 were charged under the 
Uniform Code of Military Justice with wrongful distribution of drugs, which 
carries a maximum sentence of 15 years. Several service members received 
the maximum sentence.

Twenty-three people were charged with wrongful use of drugs, which carries 
a maximum sentence of five years. The sentences also include a dishonorable 
discharge and forfeiture of pay and allowances.

Many of the military personnel convicted are already out of the military, 
and some are cycling out, Cox said. Two cases are pending.

"For us one person using drugs is too many," he said. "It just doesn't mesh 
with our mission."

While Cox said the military was concerned about drug use, he said those 
convicted in the operation represent a tiny fraction of the 60,000 military 
personnel stationed at the base during the operation.

Designer drugs are not a new problem in Wilmington, nor for Marines 
stationed at the base.

In November 2000, a military judge sentenced a Marine to 10 years in prison 
after the man pleaded guilty to distributing ecstasy.

At the time, naval investigators said the man was engaged in bringing the 
drug to North Carolina from Florida. Investigators said he transported as 
many as 70,000 pills and earned as much as $100,000 profit in six months. 
The case was the fourth major case in a three-week period, Wilmington 
police told a local newspaper.

In December 2000, a Marine pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 
ecstasy and a judge sentenced him to 54 months in prison. The judge 
suspended part of that sentence after the man told the court the names of 
three other Marines involved. That same month another Marine was sentenced 
to five years in prison for dealing in ecstasy.
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