6 ACCUSED OF SMUGGLING HEROIN WORTH $20M INTO U.S.

NEWARK -- Six Spaniards from the Canary Islands are being held by federal
authorities without bail pending an April trial on charges they smuggled
millions of dollars of heroin into the United States.

Twenty-two pounds of the drug were found sewn into clothing they wore or had
in luggage, Assistant U.S. Attorney Carolyn A. Murray said.

The haul has a street value of about $20 million, the U.S. Customs Service
said.

Five of the suspects, all in their 20s, told customs agents they had been
recruited by the sixth defendant, 43-year-old Manuel Fuentes Vasquez, to
carry items containing the drug, the agency said in its criminal complaint.

All six have pleaded not guilty. Each faces a minimum 10-year prison term if
convicted on the single charge of conspiracy to smuggle drugs.

They have been held at the nearby Union County Jail in Elizabeth since their
arrest Jan. 27 at Newark International Airport after arriving on a flight
from Caracas, Venezuela.

All were traveling under the same reservation, and Vasquez carried travel
documents for the group, Customs said.

Andrew J. Blair, the lawyer for Rosa Desiree Zuppo-Suarez, said she believed
she was carrying a liquid chemical.

"My client, according to what she told me, was totally tricked into bringing
that suitcase into the United States. She was told it was going to be one
thing, and it turned [out] to be drugs," Blair said Thursday.

"She's a nice girl, a sweet girl. She definitely was taken advantage of," he
said, noting the woman did not complete grammar school and was naive.

"If you've never been out of the Canary Islands, this was a chance to see
the world," Blair said.

The Spanish territory lies off the west coast of North Africa.

Vasquez lawyer Edna B. Axelrod declined to discuss her client, but said,
"There are often a lot of facts that are unknown early in an investigation,
and the facts will be developed further as the case proceeds."

Vasquez, a double amputee, made a court appearance last month using a
wheelchair.

Among those charged are a brother and sister, Fernando and Maria Reyes
Bethencourt.

Fernando's lawyer, Blair R. Zwillman, also declined to comment, except to
say that five of the six defendants "are very young people charged with a
most serious offense."

Lawyers for the other suspects did not immediately return calls Thursday.

The six are scheduled for trial April 17 before U.S. District Judge
Katharine S. Hayden.

They were ordered held without bail Jan. 29 by U.S. Magistrate G. Donald
Haneke.