SALINA DRUG BUST CITY'S LARGEST

SALINA -- A traffic stop in Salina led to the largest drug seizure in the
city's history and arrests in two other states, police said.

Police seized 440 pounds of cocaine, worth an estimated $40 million, after
stopping a stock trailer in Salina last Thursday.

Salina police chief Jim Hill said the drugs were being taken from Texas to
Pennsylvania. The traffic stop in Salina led to five arrests in San Antonio
and Philadelphia.

Hill said the drug seizure was the largest in the history of the department.

The bricks of cocaine, wrapped in pastel-colored plastic cellophane in
Easter egg hues and coated with grease to cover the smell, were bundled
into false compartments in a stock trailer.

According to police, two Salina officers stopped the driver of a pickup
truck for speeding early last Thursday morning. Police found that the
driver, 34-year-old Douglas Morse, of Bulverde, Texas, was wanted on a
Texas arrest warrant. They also found that the pickup was stolen.

Morse was jailed. He later told investigators about the cocaine and led
them to the trailer. He said he was to be paid $15,000 to deliver the
cocaine to Philadelphia.

The Drug Enforcement Administration arranged to have the truck and trailer
flown to Philadelphia, and Morse made his delivery at a suburban
Philadelphia motel. DEA agents then arrested three other men at the motel,
and simultaneously arrested a man in San Antonio.

DEA spokeswoman Mary Vaira. of Philadelphia. said five people were charged
with conspiracy to distribute cocaine. They each face a mandatory sentence
of 10 years in prison if convicted.

Charged were Morse; Jose Flores, 27, of Corpus Christi, Texas; Juan Esteban
Villegas-Arango, 35, of Perth Amboy, N.J., and two other men.

Flores was arrested in San Antonio.

Following the arrests, agents searched a house in Philadelphia and
recovered supplies and equipment used in fabricating the false compartments
in the trailer.

Hill said the cocaine seizure "goes to show how Salina, being smack dab in
the middle of two Interstate (highways), has a lot of drugs being moved
through there."

Vaira agreed that the case, which she described as "a huge seizure for us,"
is indicative of heavy drug traffic.

"It's an ongoing investigation," she said, "because if you read through the
whole press release, it says Morse mentioned twenty other trips. That's
enough to drive any agent crazy."