MORE DRUG TRAFFICKERS TURN TO NET, REPORT SAYS

Sellers Are Going Online To Peddle Their Stashes, Launder Money And Share
Some Tricks Of The Trade.

VIENNA, Austria -- Czech drug traffickers arrange deals at Internet cafes.
Australians use courier Web sites to track illegal packages of pills.
American dealers swap recipes for amphetamines in restricted- access chat
rooms.

Worldwide, drug traffickers increasingly are taking advantage of encrypted
e-mail and other Internet technology to sell their stashes, launder money
and trade tips and techniques, the U.N. International Narcotics Control
Board has warned in a report.

Greater vigilance and international cooperation are needed "to prevent the
Internet from turning into a worldwide web of drug trafficking," said Hamid
Ghodse, the Narcotics Control Board's president.

Among the Vienna-based agency's causes for concern:

* In the United States, Internet swapping of techniques for manufacturing
amphetamines in underground laboratories has become widespread.

* In the Czech Republic, authorities are reporting a spike in drug sales
and purchases arranged online at Internet cafes or via text messages
transmitted between cellular telephones.

* In Australia, traffickers are using Web-based package tracking services
offered by international courier companies to keep tabs on the progress of
their shipments. Any undue delay could signal that authorities have
intercepted the drugs, giving the dealers time to cover their tracks.

* In Hong Kong, narcotics police say detecting money laundering of cash
earned by drug traffickers has gotten tricky now that so many dealers are
using electronic commerce and Internet banking facilities. In one case,
Chinese authorities said traffickers penetrated a customs database and
electronically altered the details and status of a freight shipment in an
attempt to avoid detection.

Dealers are using the Internet "to move large sums electronically around
the world with speed, ease and secrecy -- ideal attributes for launderers
of illicit drug funds," said the Narcotics Control Board, which was set up
by the United Nations to monitor compliance with international drug treaties.

Other agencies are noticing the same trends.

The Internet has become the most widely used medium for expanding
production of synthetic drugs in some Central and South American countries,
the Inter-American Drug Abuse Control Commission said in a recent report.

Interpol says more than 1,000 Web sites worldwide -- most based in
Switzerland and the Netherlands -- sell marijuana, Ecstasy and other
illicit drugs.

A patchwork of laws that vary widely between countries gives traffickers an
opportunity to use the Internet "to trail their activities across several
jurisdictions to minimize law enforcement risks and maximize profit," the
Narcotics Control Board said, calling for a U.N. convention on cybercrime.