Pubdate: Sun, 27 Apr 2003
Source: Laurel Leader-Call (MS)
Contact:  2003 Laurel Leader-Call
Website: http://www.leadercall.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1662
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Frank+Melton (Melton, Frank)

MBN CHIEF SAYS HE DOESN'T THINK LOTT IS INVOLVED IN PLANE TRANSFER

JACKSON (AP) -- State Bureau of Narcotics chief Frank Melton said Friday he 
believes U.S. Sen. Trent Lott was not involved in the transfer of MBN 
planes to agencies on the Gulf Coast.

Melton said during a news conference that the planes were not Lott's to 
transfer.

The state auditor's office and the Bureau of Narcotics are investigating 
how the planes were given to the Harrison County sheriff's office and the 
Hancock County Port Authority.

Melton said he does not know when the investigation will be finished, but 
when it is, he will release a complete, unedited report. Some MBN files 
were missing when the investigation began.

An internal report obtained last week by The Associated Press quotes a 
confidential source as saying the transfers in 1999 and 2000 were allegedly 
made at the request of a former aide to Lott, R-Miss.

In 1999, the bureau transferred an $800,000 Beechcraft King Air to the 
Harrison County Sheriff's Office. The next year, the bureau transferred a 
Cessna 206 to the Hancock County Port Authority. Both transfers were made 
at no cost.

Lee Youngblood, a spokesman for the Lott, attended Melton's news conference 
Friday and said he had little to add to what Melton said.

"He did indicate that Senator Lott is not the subject of any kind of 
investigation and this is basically MBN probing itself and its own past 
actions," Youngblood said. "I think that certainly that speaks for itself."

Melton said MBN is enacting tighter controls of its own inventory. He said 
he learned from an agent Thursday that the bureau owns two boats that were 
confiscated in drug arrests, but the boats have remained on the Gulf Coast.

Melton said he wants the boats either stored in Jackson or used for making 
arrests on the Mississippi River.
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