SON OF COLOMBIAN ANTI-DRUG OFFICIAL HELD IN SMUGGLING OF HEROIN TO U.S.

BOGOTA, Colombia - The 19-year-old son of a top Colombian
anti-narcotics official was arrested in Miami this week for allegedly
smuggling heroin into the United States, officials said Friday.

U.S. agents arrested Andres Lafourie Restrepo at Miami International
Airport on Wednesday with 8 pounds of heroin in 240 pellets taped to
his legs, a U.S. Customs Service statement said.

He was arrested along with Juan Pablo Mejia, 18, also of Colombia, who
had 7 1/2 pounds of heroin, the statement said.

Restrepo, who had arrived from Cartagena, Colombia, on national air
carrier Avianca, was being held at a federal detention center in
Miami, customs spokesman Zach Mann said.

His mother, Maria, heads the government program that provides economic
alternatives to farmers who grow the coca and poppy plants used to
make cocaine and heroin.

The agency, known as Plante, is slated to receive tens of millions of
dollars as part of a $1.3-billion anti-narcotics aid package from the
United States.