ICE ENTERS HAWAI'I BY ALL ROUTES, DISGUISES

Drug traffickers are using Hawai'i's commercial airlines and cargo shipping
to import significant amounts of crystal methamphetamine every week, despite
stepped-up security efforts since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and efforts
by authorities to interrupt the drug trade.

The drugs are packed into suitcases, coolers, packages and other forms of
checked luggage. They are strapped to the bodies of couriers who board
planes bound for the Islands.

Varying quantities of the drug, from grams to pounds, are sent via U.S. mail
and through private shippers such as United Parcel Service and Federal
Express.

The relative ease with which crystal methamphetamine is brought into Hawai'i
is frustrating and disturbing to law-enforcement officials, who are under
mounting pressure to do something about ice addiction. Authorities say
Hawai'i consumes more of the drug per-capita than any other state.

A dramatic example of smuggling surfaced recently in Operation Shave Ice, a
multiagency law-enforcement investigation that broke up five ice rings in
Hawai'i and led to the arrest of nearly 50 people. A group allegedly headed
by Marvin Postadan hollowed out a hydraulic lift, stuffed it with drugs or
money, and shipped it back and forth between Hawai'i and their Mainland
supplier, said U.S. Attorney Ed Kubo.

Law-enforcement officials say they don't know how much of the illegal drug
is coming into Hawai'i, but acknowledge they face a formidable task in
preventing it.

Seaborne cargo containers, more than 1,000 of which are unloaded in Hawai'i
every day, are used to smuggle mass quantities of narcotics into the state,
authorities said.

"Hawai'i is not a drug-producing state. Most of the narcotics seized here
are imported," said Briane Grey, assistant special agent in charge of the
Drug Enforcement Administration office in Honolulu.

"Drugs are no different than a roll of toilet paper," he said. "If you want
to get in bulk, maybe you go cargo. Small amount, you need it right away,
send a courier. Wait a couple days? Send an Express Mail package. This is
what happens. This is what is going on."

"We don't interdict stateside as much as what is coming in," said FBI
Special Agent Arnold Laanui Jr. "It's a losing battle."

Law-enforcement officials say the high volume of shipping into the state
makes it impossible for every suspicious item to be inspected.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, a federal mandate requires inspection of every
piece of luggage aboard a plane, but the Transportation Security
Administration screeners are not trained to look for drugs, Kubo said.

According to the DEA, a pound of crystal meth retails in the western United
States for $7,000 to $8,000. The same pound can be sold in Hawai'i for
$22,000 to $42,000.

"It's economics 101," Laanui said.

Because everything coming into the state cannot be inspected, investigators
focus on developing leads on who is running the drug import operations.

"We get hit on a total front -- there are a bunch of organizations operating
in the state that are highly organized and working with elements on the
Mainland who are manufacturing drugs in super-labs in California or in
Mexico, and then shipping it down," said Larry Burnett, director of the
Hawai'i High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, a partnership of federal and
state agencies.

"It is not just a matter of going and finding packages or cargo. Anything
shipped domestic is protected by the Constitution."

To search mail or cargo, inspectors must establish probable cause and obtain
a search warrant. But even then, traffickers have developed elaborate forms
of evasion, engineering ways to mold methamphetamine into statuettes, plates
and other ceramic items. Some will sew the drugs into clothes linings that
are then packed and shipped.

A riskier but often-used tactic is body packing, in which electrical tape is
used to fasten pounds of drugs to the skin, then concealing it under
clothes. The technique is easy to detect only if the drugs noticeably alter
a passenger's appearance, officials said.

"Smuggling ability is limited to the creativity of the smuggler," Laanui
said.

Officials agree they cannot arrest their way out of Hawai'i's
methamphetamine problem, but they note that two state laws prevent them from
combating drug suppliers effectively.

Police officers are not allowed to conduct "walk and talk" operations or
wiretap suspects' phones without first disclosing their investigation to a
judge, which officials say is almost certain to tip off suspects.

"We're fighting with one arm tied behind our backs," Kubo said.

Before a 1992 Hawai'i Supreme Court decision, officers were allowed to
approach people and start casual conversation after identifying themselves
as officers on the lookout for drugs, Kubo said.

At any time during the conversation, the individual could walk away. But if
probable cause surfaced during the conversation, the police could take
action. This tactic was most often used at the airport to stop human
couriers and body packers.

All other states allow "walk and talk"-type operations.

Only federal agents at Honolulu International Airport are able to use the
technique in Hawai'i, including police officers deputized by the federal
Drug Enforcement Administration to make up for a shortage of labor.

Federal wiretaps were used in Operation Shave Ice, which combined the
efforts of federal, state and county law-enforcement officials.

Kubo said state laws prevent any evidence gathered through federal wiretaps
to be used in state court, "meaning the lower-level drug dealers can't be
prosecuted after the big boys go down in federal court."

Besides amending state laws, which law-enforcement officials are expected to
ask the Legislature to do, the biggest need in going after drug smuggling is
federal staffing, Burnett said.

"We're going to be busy for a while," he said, "but we're going to get the
ice off the island."