INS AGENT FACES CHARGES

Feds: He Let Heroin Smugglers Enter

An immigration inspector at Miami International Airport was arrested Monday
morning for facilitating the arrival of several heroin couriers who
smuggled the narcotic into the United States in their stomachs, federal
authorities said.

One of the alleged drug runners: his wife.

Luis Abreu, 46, faces a charge of conspiracy to distribute heroin. His
wife, Nydia, 37, was also arrested and slapped with the same charge.

The arrests come after an 18-month investigation by several local, state
and federal agencies that brought an indictment from a grand jury in
Orlando, said Joe Kilmer, spokesman for the Drug Enforcement
Administration's Miami field division.

A total of nine people were arrested across the state, and authorities
seized three kilograms of heroin and more than $550,000 in assets, Kilmer
said. Three people are still wanted in connection with the ring, and there
are state warrants issued for Rosa Parra-Navarro, Mario Leon Castaneda and
Fabian Castro, he said.

Luis Abreu is accused of letting people who carried pellets of heroin in
their bellies, known in law enforcement and trafficking circles as "mules,"
to pass through airport security without interference.

"This guy was knowingly allowing swallowers to come through," Kilmer said.

The couple, who live in North Miami, allegedly worked for the Suarez
international heroin trafficking and money laundering operation, he said.

"The Suarez organization has been identified as utilizing approximately 50
internal heroin couriers to smuggle an estimated 50 to 60 kilograms of
heroin per year into the United States," Kilmer said.

Monday's arrest is connected with the arrest of Ariel Suarez, 39, and
Victor Suarez, 45, in June at their homes in Miami Beach and Sweetwater.
Both were charged with heroin trafficking and conspiracy, accused of
running a team of at least 50 mules who smuggled heroin from Colombia to
the United States through Miami, the Latin American gateway.

HOW THEY OPERATE

Law enforcement authorities say mules, responsible for smuggling up to 80
kilograms of heroin into the United States each year, ingest pellets
packaged in fingers cut from latex gloves, then pass them through bowel
movements within three to five days. They reportedly earn between $2,000
and $20,000 per trip.

A spokeswoman with the Immigration and Naturalization Service confirmed
that Abreu had been arrested but could not say late Monday how long he had
worked at the agency or the airport and if he would be fired or suspended.

John Shewairy, chief of staff for the Florida District of the Immigration
and Naturalization Service in Miami, issued a statement saying the INS is
committed to working closely with law enforcement agencies in matters of
possible misconduct by employees.

VOWS COOPERATION

"We hold our employees to the highest standards of conduct," Shewairy
wrote. "Whenever we learn of situations in which someone has possibly acted
outside the law, we will do everything in our power to ensure that they are
held accountable.

"We will cooperate to the fullest extent in this investigation."

Kilmer said the investigation -- a joint effort by agents with the DEA, the
Customs Service, the Department of Justice, the office of Inspector
General, Miami-Dade County police and the Florida Department of Law
Enforcement -- continues and that more arrests may follow.

Public records reveal that Abreu and his wife live in a two-bedroom,
two-bath condo in Waterside Towers, No. 109, at 2450 NE 135th St., which
Luis Abreu bought in December 1999 for $68,000.

A man there who identified himself only as the couple's son said he did not
know what his parents were being held for or if they had hired an attorney.

"Please, I'm very upset," he said, his voice cracking. "I don't want to
talk to anyone."