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.