FORMER HAITIAN OFFICIAL FACES DRUG CONSPIRACY CHARGE

MIAMI - One of Haiti's former antidrug chiefs was indicted Friday on a
drug conspiracy charge as other former police and traffickers
cooperating with U.S. investigators explained how Haitian officials
allegedly took payoffs to protect Colombian cocaine heading to Miami.

Evintz Brillant was added to an indictment that named former Haitian
national police Cmdr. Rudy Therassan on a conspiracy charge carrying a
possible life sentence. Arraignment is set for Monday.

Therassan's attorney has identified Oriel Jean, ousted Haitian
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's jailed chief of presidential palace
security, as an informant in the wide-ranging investigation.

Imprisoned Haitian drug kingpin Beaudoin ``Jacques'' Ketant, who has
denounced Aristide as a drug lord, also is helping U.S. investigators.
Therassan has admitted killing Ketant's drug-trafficking brother but
says it was in self-defense.