DRUG HOUSE SEIZURES PLANNED

Prosecutor's Goal: To Shut Down 50 This Summer

Detroit -- The police keep ramming through the door of 1274 Drexel.

Detroit narcotics officers discovered cocaine and marijuana in the home
just north of Jefferson in 1993.

In 1999, drug money and crack pipes were discovered. Last year, police
walked away with cocaine and a .380 semiautomatic pistol.

In March, the Wayne County Prosecutor's Office warned the landlord about
illegal drug activity at the house, but police then returned three more
times and came up with more drugs, more guns, more pipes.

Prosecutor Michael Duggan will file complaints in court today to seize
the Drexel house and five others in Detroit that police have raided
several times.

In an interview, Duggan said he plans to seize and padlock 50 drug
houses by summer's end, and 100 by January.

Owners of 53 drug houses received notices in March that forfeiture
proceedings could begin on their properties if they don't evict
drug-peddling tenants.

Duggan said many landlords failed to stop illegal activity after the
certified-mail warnings. Some of them live elsewhere -- one in Nebraska
- -- and didn't know about the goings-on at their properties before the
notice, Duggan said.

"You have a large number of property owners who are profiting from the
drug trade because of the rent," Duggan said. "There are cases when
landlords charge a premium because they know drug deals are going on."

Hearings in Wayne County Circuit Court on the six houses will be
scheduled in about a month, and landlords could face $25,000 fines if a
judge finds that they knew that illegal drug activity was taking place
on their properties.

The homes in the best conditions will be put up for sale, and others
will be auctioned or donated to community groups.

Sale proceeds will be put toward outstanding mortgages, liens and, in
some cases, demolitions.

Minister Malik Shabazz of the New Marcus Garvey/New Black Panther Party
welcomed the effort to crack down on drug houses, some of which have
been scenes of other crimes including sexual assaults. He said his group
is working with Duggan to identify houses.

Prosecutors are working from a list of 1,300 houses that Detroit police
raided last year.

Duggan said remaining money from successful seizures will go toward
salaries for prosecutors in the forfeiture unit, continuing a practice
widely criticized in the legal community and among Detroit residents as
unethical.

Opponents contend prosecutors are profiting from crime.