AUTHORITIES SAY THEY MADE LARGEST EVER SEIZURE OF THE DRUG ECSTASY IN LOS
ANGELES

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Federal agents intercepted 2.1 million tablets of the
drug MDMA, commonly known as Ecstasy. Valued at $40 million, officials said
it the biggest Ecstasy haul in history.

Saturday's seizure of nearly 1,100 pounds of Ecstasy at Los Angeles
International Airport marked the high point of a 10-month investigation by
the Southwest Border Initiative, a multi-agency task force.

"That's 2.1 million tablets of Ecstasy that won't go to our kids this
year," Stephen Wiley, FBI Special Agent in Charge, said during a news
conference Wednesday.

Three men were arrested Tuesday.

Authorities were still searching for Tamer Ibrahim, 26, of Los Angeles, the
alleged ringleader of the operation.

Authorities on Tuesday arrested Ryu "Steve" Jiha, 35, Mark Edward Belin,
28, and Damon Todd Kidwell, 29, all of the Los Angeles area.

The group has been linked to several other large seizures around the world,
including 700 pounds found by U.S. Customs agents in December 1999,
authorities said.

Ecstasy is a synthetic drug manufactured mostly in Europe -- this batch
came from the Netherlands -- and commonly used at nightclubs and
underground "rave" parties. A hallucinogenic stimulant that gives its users
a feeling of euphoria, Ecstasy is also said to cause brain damage and have
other side effects.

The drug, which comes in pill or liquid form, costs about 25 cents per dose
to manufacture and usually sells for about $20 per tablet, authorities said.

Drug Enforcement Agent Mark Trouville called Ecstasy use an "exploding
problem."

"It's the next potential epidemic," he said.

The cache confiscated Saturday was found in 15 boxes on an Air France
flight from Paris and represented one-fourth of the 8 million tablets of
Ecstasy seized in the United States this year, officials said. By
comparison, only 400 tablets of the drug were seized in the United States
three years ago.