16-OFFICER TEAM WATCHES AIRPORT FOR DRUG TRAFFIC

The case against Haissam Nashar, who pleaded guilty of carrying counterfeit
tax stamps in his luggage while changing planes at Lambert Field, shed a
little light on a low-profile police team that watches the airport for drug
trafficking.

The St. Louis Airport Task Force uses 16 officers from the St. Louis, St.
Louis County and Lambert Field police departments and the federal Drug
Enforcement Administration, which oversees it.

Plainclothes officers patrol the terminal, watching for signs of drug
activity, particularly among fliers traveling to or from cities known to
have a significant drug trade.

"We're looking for anything and everything out of the ordinary or
suspicious," said a DEA supervisor. "If we encounter someone suspicious,
then we try to obtain a consent-to-search authorization."

Before Sept. 11 last year, the task force was "very effective" in seizing
drugs and drug money and making arrests, said DEA Special Agent Shirley
Armstead. But with the tightening of airport security after the terrorist
attacks, many drug traffickers seem to have switched to using other methods
of transportation, she said.