DRUG TRAFFICKERS' INTERNET USE RISES

Says They Are Making Deals, Tracking Cargo, Sharing Recipes

VIENNA, Austria - Czech drug traffickers arrange deals at Internet
cafes. Australians use courier websites 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 warned in a report to be released Wednesday.

Among causes for concern:

. In the United States, Internet swapping of techniques for
manufacturing amphetamines in underground laboratories has become so
widespread that the drugs are now being made by people who are not
college-educated chemists, the report said.

. In the Czech Republic, authorities are reporting a spike in drug
sales arranged online at Internet cafes or via text messages between
cellphones. "Because illicit drug deals are arranged instantaneously
and over short distances, interception by law-enforcement authorities
is much more difficult," it said.

. In Australia, traffickers are using Web-based package tracking
services to keep tabs on shipments. Any delay could signal that the
drugs have been seized, giving dealers time to cover their tracks,
the report said.

Other agencies are noticing the same trends. Interpol, for instance,
says more than 1,000 websites - most based in Switzerland and the
Netherlands - are selling cannabis, "ecstasy" and other illicit drugs.