MORE 'SWALLOWERS' SMUGGLING ECSTASY

WASHINGTON - The Customs Service says it is seeing a growing number of
cases where airline passengers are swallowing the hallucinogenic drug
ecstasy in an effort to smuggle the illegal tablets into the United States.

"The use of 'swallowers' in ecstasy smuggling schemes is cause for serious
concern," said Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "This technique has long
been a hallmark of the heroin and cocaine trade, sometimes with fatal
consequences for the couriers paid to perform this risky service."

In the 2000 fiscal year, customs officers seized a record 9.3 million
tablets of ecstasy, a huge increase over 1999's 3.5 million tablets.

So far this year, customs has encountered 16 cases in which airline
passengers tried to smuggle ecstasy into the country by swallowing the
drug. Four of those cases occurred in December, most recently on Saturday,
when customs agents at JFK Airport in New York recovered 31 pellets filled
with 676 ecstasy tablets from a woman arriving from the Netherlands.

Last year, customs reported no such incidents, said spokesman Dean Boyd.

Customs had its first encounter with ecstasy swallowers in March.
Inspectors caught two men at JFK Airport who had swallowed a total of 2,800
tablets contained in sausage-shaped casings called pellets.

Smugglers often fill the fingers of latex gloves with dozens of the ecstasy
tablets, cut each of the fingers off, tie them with dental floss and
swallow them. Or, they may swallow condoms filled with the tablets, Boyd
said. People face serious health risks and can die if the pellets burst
inside their bodies, customs said.

Ecstasy is chemically known as MDMA for Methylenedioxymethylamphetamine.
Users normally experience feelings of euphoria and an increased desire to
interact socially. Blood pressure, heart rate and body temperature increase
dramatically.