MARIJUANA SEIZED AT PORT

Alert Customs Service inspectors using an X-ray machine and a drug-sniffing
dog discovered two tons of Jamaican marijuana in a shipping container last
August, officials revealed Thursday. Customs inspectors were doing routine
inspections on containers when they noticed that a container had been
routed from Jamaica through Panama to the port of Charleston, Customs
assistant port director Rod Wallace said. Inspectors then ran the container
through a new X-ray machine that can scan an entire container at once.
Something didn't look right inside, and with the Charleston Police
Department's dog "Paddy" nearby, inspectors opened the container. "As soon
as we opened the door, the dog hit on it right away," Wallace said. About
3,981 pounds of marijuana were in 193 boxes commingled with other boxes
containing crackers, fruit juices and other food. The street-value of the
marijuana was about $5.2 million, said Frank Algozzini, Customs special
agent in charge in Charleston. News of the seizure wasn't released until
Thursday because Customs and Drug Enforcement Agency investigators are
still trying to track down who sent the shipment and find out who else was
involved. No arrests have been made. Agents destroyed the marijuana and
donated the food to the local food bank. The seizure was another example of
how drug dealers use shipping containers to smuggle their contraband into
the United States, officials said. In Charleston, federal agents found more
than 6,500 pounds of cocaine and 10,000 pounds of marijuana in containers
during the past three years, Algozzini said. Drug smugglers have hidden
cocaine and marijuana in luggage, soap boxes and in plastic pipes packed in
sheet metal and hardened asphalt. A special panel on port security recently
found that during a three-year period, law enforcement agents seized more
than 300,000 pounds of cocaine, marijuana and heroin at the nation's top 12
ports, including Charleston. That was three times the amount discovered in
vehicles passing through the nation's border with Mexico. Customs officials
said the new X-ray machine and a drug-sniffing dog have helped their
efforts to detect drugs in containers. The agency acquired the X-ray
machine through the efforts of U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, who has been
pushing efforts to increase security at the nation's seaports.

Tony Bartelme covers maritime and other issues. Contact him at
bartelme@postandcourier.com or 937-5554.