COLONEL'S WIFE SENT COKE INTO US

The wife of the former top U.S. military commander overseeing the anti drug
effort in Colombia was arraigned in Brooklyn federal court yesterday on
drug smuggling charges, sources told The Post.

According to court papers, Laurie Hiett; admitted mailing packages
containing cocaine to addresses in Jackson Heights Queens, as well as
Manhattan, but said she did it as a favor to her husband's chauffeur and
did not know what was inside. She was released on bond after her court
appearance on a criminal complaint, sources said.

Federal agents intercepted one of the packages in late May and found
approximately a pound and a half of cocaine inside, sources said. The
sources said a Queens man was also arrested in the investigation. His job
was allegedly to pick up the packages for a fee and deliver them to someone
else. The final recipient was not known.

Hiett is the wife of Col. James Hiett, who was removed as commander of the
200 plus military outfit assigned to run counternarcotics operations with
the Colombian government after the allegations surfaced. An Army spokesman
said an internal military investigation had cleared the colonel of any
involvement in any criminal activity.

It was not clear how officials first learned about the packages, but when
they began investigating, they reviewed Customs forms. That led them to the
wife of another serviceman assigned to Bogota, who claimed she sent a
package to New York as a favor to Laurie Hiett, according to the Village
Voice, which reported portions of the story on its Web site. Authorities
eventually intercepted that package and discovered cocaine inside, the
paper said.

The two-continent investigation comes at an extremely sensitive time in the
U.S. anti-drug efforts in Colonmbia. White House drug czar General Barry
McCaffrey flew to Bogota last week after five American soldiers died on
airborne anti narcotics maneuvers in a remote part of the country. The
crash raised new questions about American antidrug troops being used
against Marxist guerrillas operating in the same jungle areas that produce
most of the world's cocaine. After the crash, McCaffrey said the U.S.
needed to re examine the official policy of non involvement in the civil
war because the rebel forces may now be financing their cause by becoming
more active in the massive drug trade. McCaffrey's comments sparked
immediate concern from some in Congress who compared America's involvement
in Colombia to its relationship with Vietnam in 1964. McCaffrey said he
would like Washington to double the $250 million a year spent on anti drug
efforts in the region.