EX-DRUG FIGHTER GETS 7-YEAR TERM

ASUNCION, Paraguay -- Retired Paraguayan Gen. Jose Tomas Centurion, former
head of the National Anti-Drug Department, was sentenced to seven years
prison yesterday for defrauding the South American country.

Judge Carlos Ortiz Barrios ruled Centurion breached public trust and
defrauded the state when in 1996 he bought three second-hand helicopters
for $3 million, the price for new helicopters, for the nation's war on
drugs. A congressional probe determined that Bell UH-1B helicopters, built
in 1964, were worth $150,000 each. The aircraft are currently grounded as
inoperable.