490,000 ECSTASY PILLS SEIZED AT AIRPORT

Tablets arrived in San Francisco on a flight from Paris, the
Customs Service says. An L.A. man is arrested.

SAN FRANCISCO--U.S. Customs Service agents intercepted nearly half a
million tablets of the drug ecstasy that arrived on a passenger flight
from Paris, disguised in cargo boxes that were shrink-wrapped and
labeled "cotton pants."

It was one of the largest ecstasy seizures in the country and reflects
a sharp increase in the popularity of the hallucinogenic drug, said
Robert Stiriti, an assistant agent in charge of the Customs Service's
San Francisco office.

"It is the drug of choice of young party-goers today," Stiriti said
Friday at a news conference announcing Monday's seizure.

Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, usually comes in a small, white or gray
powdery pill. It is popular among American teenagers and people at
nightclubs, and sells for about $45 per tablet.

The 490,000 pills confiscated from a United Airlines flight at San
Francisco International Airport top the 1997 total of 400,000 tablets
seized nationwide and push this year's total to 5.2 million pills,
compared with 3.5 million seized in 1999.

The seizure was the result of a yearlong sting operation and led to
Wednesday's arrest of Ben Wizmann, 41, at his Los Angeles home. He is
charged with conspiracy, smuggling, conspiracy to import a controlled
substance, and importing a controlled substance, and is being held
without bail.