PROSECUTOR: TESTS SHOW COLONEL'S WIFE TRAFFICKED HEROIN, NOT COCAINE

NEW YORK (AP) -- Two packages seized in a drug trafficking case against the
wife of the former commander of the U.S. anti-drug operation in Colombia
contained heroin, not cocaine as first thought, according to court papers.

Laurie Ann Hiett, wife of Col. James Hiett, made headlines in August by
surrendering to federal authorities in Brooklyn on drug conspiracy charges.
Field tests had indicated two parcels she allegedly shipped to the United
States from the U.S. Embassy in Bogota each held 1.2 kilos of cocaine.

But since then, laboratory tests "have determined that these packages, in
fact, contained heroin," prosecutor Lee Dunst wrote in a Oct. 21 letter to
Mrs. Hiett's attorney.

Dunst refused Tuesday to discuss the case. But in his letter, he said the
fact the evidence is heroin instead of cocaine is "irrelevant" because, as
an alleged drug smuggler, Mrs. Hiett "need not know the exact nature or
type of drug in her possession."

Prosecutors said at the time of Mrs. Hiett's arrest that if convicted on
the cocaine charges, she faced up to 12 years in prison. Charges involving
heroin can carry a stiffer penalty.

Mrs. Hiett, 36 -- who has not been indicted and is free on bail -- has
denied the charges. Her attorney, Paul Lazarus, said the new information
does not change her defense: that she was unaware drugs were in the packages.

"If she didn't know it was cocaine, she didn't know it was heroin," Lazarus
said Tuesday.

Court papers show Mrs. Hiett has agreed to give up her right to a speedy
prosecution, in part to allow both sides to pursue a possible plea bargain.

An investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Division in Panama
cleared Col. Hiett, saying he had "no prior knowledge" of alleged cocaine
shipments to the United States involving his wife. At his request, he was
transferred to Fort Monroe, Va., headquarters of the Training and Doctrine
Command.

Mrs. Hiett became a suspect in May when her name appeared on the return
address on one of the two packages, which was seized after a routine search
by U.S. Customs in Miami. The shoebox-size package had been shipped from
the post office for U.S. citizens inside the U.S. Embassy in Bogota to a
Queens address of Hernan Arcila.

Undercover officers delivered the package to the home of Arcila, finding
more drugs and documents naming Jorge Ayala, a civilian driver for U.S.
military commanders in Colombia. They also arrested Arcila, who allegedly
told them he had received five or six packages from the same source.

After reviewing Customs records, investigators learned similar packages had
been shipped from the embassy to a private post office box in Manhattan.
There they seized another parcel containing what was then thought to cocaine.

When Mrs. Hiett was finally confronted by investigators in June, she
admitted shipping the packages and filing out the Customs forms. But she
claimed she did it for Ayala, and denied knowing what she was sending.

Ayala told investigators that Mrs. Hiett used cocaine and had asked him to
buy the drug in a section of Bogota known for drug sales. Court papers said
other witnesses reported seeing her there before.