COCAINE SMUGGLED FROM US EMBASSY

US ARMY investigators may have uncovered evidence of a narcotics
smuggling ring within the US Embassy compound in Bogota, the Colombian
capital, after the wife of a senior US military officer was arrested
on charges of shipping cocaine through official mail.

US officials are investigating between six to eight embassy staff and
family members who may have used the Air Force Postal System to send
drugs to the US, according to The Washington Post.

The investigation stems from the arrest last week in New York of
Laurie Hiatt, the wife of Col James Hiatt, the US military attache in
Bogota.

Mrs Hiatt is charged with conspiring to send at least six packages of
cocaine, each containing about 2.7lb of the drug, with an estimated
total value of $235,000 (pounds 145,000). Although Col Hiatt has been
cleared of any involvement, he has asked for a transfer.

Col Hiatt directed about 200 US troops in Colombia, including US
Special Forces on anti-drug missions, and a team of US Marines who
provide embassy security.

The embarrassing discovery comes as critics claim US drug-war policy
in Columbia has gone awry. Despite increases in aid, coca cultivation
has risen by 50pc in the last two years.

Though officials praise the efforts of Col Hiatt and Ambassador Curtis
Kamman, they say the professional and security pressures in the drugs
war place an enormous stress on embassy staff.

Mrs Hiatt, a former military secretary born in Panama's Canal Zone,
arrived in Bogota with her husband last year. According to court
documents, she began frequenting the trendy Zona Rosa district of
northern Bogota, often in the company of the embassy chauffeur.
Starting in April, she sent half a dozen small boxes of cocaine to New
York, declaring the contents to be sweets, coffee and artefacts. While
Mrs Hiatt admits sending the parcels, she denies knowledge of their
contents.