COLONEL'S WIFE SENT COKE INTO U.S.

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 Bary 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 Iroopfbeing used
against Marxist guerrillas operating in the same jungle areas that produce
most of the world's cocaine.

After the crtish, 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.