JAMAICA COCAINE CONNECTION

KINGSTON - U.S. Customs agents have made more cocaine seizures from airline
passengers entering from Jamaica than from any other country during a recent
one-year period, according to The Gleaner newspaper.

Between October 1997 and September 1998, passengers from Jamaica accounted
for 37 percent of cocaine seizures, the newspaper reported, quoting Customs
statistics.

Although Jamaica and Colombia account for only 3.2 percent of all airline
passenger traffic to the United States, the two countries account for 50
percent of all cocaine seizures.