101,000 ECSTASY PILLS ARE SEIZED AT LOGAN; 2 EUROPEANS ARRESTED

More than $2 million worth of the designer drug ecstasy was seized last
week when two Europeans were arrested at Logan Airport just after landing
on a flight from Frankfurt, US Attorney Donald K. Stern announced last
night.

It was the matching Samsonite suitcases carried by Roland Ruehn, 37, of
Germany, and Danut Sur, 26, of Sweden, that apparently tipped off US
Customs officials at Logan International Airport.

When Customs inspectors opened the identical suitcases, they found women's
clothing and two heavy gift-wrapped packages, according to a complaint
filed in US District Court. The men also both asserted that they planned to
stay at the same Framingham hotel for a week.

After X-raying the packages, Customs inspectors opened them and discovered
plastic bags filled with more than 101,000 ecstasy pills, according to
court records.

Last Thursday, the two men appeared in US District Court, where they were
ordered held without bail on charges of trying to smuggle drugs into the
United States.

In April, local and federal investigators arrested two Israeli men and
seized more than $4 million worth of ecstasy, bundled in packages that had
been shipped from Paris to hotels in Boston and Brookline.

Ecstasy, the common name for the compound
3,4-Methylenedioxy-methamphetamine, is being marketed as ''the hug drug''
or ''the love drug,'' according to federal officials.

It causes high energy, talkativeness, insomnia, and an accelerated
heartbeat, combined with deep relaxation and generalized happiness.

The drug is dangerous when combined with alcohol and other drugs and has
been blamed for a rash of overdoses recently at nightclubs around Boston.

Alan Therrien, acting special agent-in-charge of US Customs in Boston, said
last week's seizure at Logan Airport reflects heightened efforts by the
Customs Service to crack down on ecstasy smuggling.