DRUG SMUGGLERS GET CREATIVE USING HAITI AS CONDUIT

MIAMI -- Smugglers have been moving increasingly large amounts of cocaine
into Florida by way of Haiti, employing hiding places so ingenious that
federal agents have had to drill into the keels of freighters to find the
drugs.

This month alone, agents seized more than a ton of cocaine stashed inside
false compartments aboard several freighters from Haiti. They found an
additional 160 pounds of the drug hidden inside barrels of butter aboard a
commercial flight that arrived in Miami.

"This particular incident of uncovering cocaine in the keel will force the
organizations to come up with a new way to bring it in," said Frank
Figueroa, lead investigator at the Customs Service office in Miami.

In the "Miami Vice" days of the 1980s, Colombian drug lords brought their
cargo to Florida shores on fast boats or dropped it from low-flying planes.
When federal agents caught on, the smugglers started shipping cocaine
through Mexico. Then when agents cracked down on that route, smugglers
adapted yet again and began moving the drugs through Haiti.

Ten to 15 years ago, marijuana and illegal immigrants were the main illicit
cargo from Haiti, an island nation 600 miles southeast of Miami.

Figueroa said agents noticed an increase in cocaine shipments from Haiti in
the past four to five years. They were often brought by "mules," people
hired to hide a few pounds of cocaine on them or in their luggage;.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy estimates 12 percent of the
illegal drugs smuggled into the United States comes through Haiti.

But that figure may be on the rise. Between October 1997 and September
1998, U.S. investigators seized 7,005 pounds of cocaine aboard Haitian
vessels. The amount dropped to 2,063 pounds the next year, but in the past
five months, Customs has already seized 4,983 pounds of cocaine.

More than 3,000 pounds of that total — with a street value of about $25
million — was found this month, hidden in the keels of five vessels docked
along the Miami River.

The drugs were hidden in tiny false compartments, below floor panels,
inside tanks filled with water or fuel, and within the bilge areas, the
sections between the hull and the floor where waste accumulates.

Such compartments are often impossible to get at from the inner deck.
Officials searching for contraband are faced with cutting through several
inches of flooring, or the costly option of putting the vessels in dry dock
and drilling holes in the keel.

Customs agents employed that tactic this month. After they began pulling
out drill bits sprinkled with cocaine, investigators cut through the thick
metal section of the ships and found more than a ton of cocaine.