COCAINE FINDING ITS WAY TO FLORIDA BY WAY OF HAITI

This Month Alone, Agents Have Seized More Than A Ton Of Drugs Stashed
In False Compartments Aboard Freighters.

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 have 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. The island nation is 600 miles southeast of
Miami.

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

The Office of National Drug Control Policy estimates that 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
last five months, Customs has already seized 4,983 pounds of cocaine.

More than 3,000 pounds of that total - with a street value of $25
million - were 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,
in 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 to from the inner deck.
Officials searching for contraband are faced with the job of 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 within.

Officials also are finding more drug proceeds being smuggled out of
the United States en route to the drug kingpins. Customs agents
recently found a little more than $1 million aboard a freighter
carrying junk. The cash was inside brand-new toolboxes on the deck, in
plain view.

According to a State Department report last year, "Efforts by the
government of Haiti to investigate, arrest, prosecute or convict
members of international drug trafficking organizations were lacking."

Justice Department officials blame several factors: a political
impasse among Haiti's branches of government; widespread corruption; a
dysfunctional judicial system; pervasive poverty and police
inexperience.

The Drug Enforcement Administration has seven agents in Haiti, but
they do not have the authority to make arrests or conduct
investigations. All they can do is advise local authorities and
exchange information, spokesman Brent Eaton said.

The two main routes for cocaine shipping are either directly from
Colombia to Haiti or via Panama. Large shipments are delivered mainly
to Haiti's southern coast by fast boats, cargo freighters or air drops.

"The success that we've had in Mexico has ballooned somewhat the
impact on what has come through the Caribbean," said Bob Weiner, a
spokesman for White House drug czar Barry McCaffrey. "It's still a
very serious situation."