AGENTS ADAPT TO CHANGING TACTICS IN DRUG SMUGGLING

WASHINGTON April 29 (States) -- It might arrive tucked inside fake water
tanks, stashed in barrels or hidden beneath loads of iron ore. It might even
be hidden inside the belly of a "swallower" working as a deckhand on one of
the thousands of ships entering South Florida's seaports each year.

Now, experts say cocaine has more than a good hiding place, it is disguised.
The nation's drug czar, retired Gen. Barry McCaffrey, on Tuesday told a
congressional committee that drug cartels are producing a new
hard-to-detect form of the drug known as "Black cocaine." By mixing iron
ore and charcoal with cocaine hydrochloride, McCaffrey said traffickers are
now producing cocaine that doesn't smell or react to chemical agents. It
can also be molded into different shapes.

"It looks like metal moldings," McCaffrey told the committee. When the drug
reaches its destination, it is chemically treated with acetone to return it
to a paste. Florida officials say they have not seized any
of the so-called black cocaine, but they are "on the lookout."

They also said the new process is just another ploy in an ongoing
"cat-and-mouse game" between drug runners and those charged with nabbing
them. "We change our methods based on theirs, and they change theirs based
on ours," said Michael Sheehan, spokesman for U.S. Customs Service.

Because Florida is a major gateway for cocaine traffic, the state's
lawmakers have called for tightened security. For example, U.S. Sen. Bob
Graham, pressured President Clinton last year to establish a commission to
study security problems at America's ports. Clinton announced Tuesday the
creation of the Graham Commission on Seaport Crime and Security. U.S.
Rep. Clay Shaw Jr., R-Fla., has long advocated providing employers access
to federal background databases when hiring dock workers, and he has called
for more Coast Guard funding, his aides said. Experts say tighter security
measures at docks, including background checks for dockworkers and better
surveillance equipment, are indispensable to quelling the flow of drugs.

Now, drug agents enlist the aid of X-ray machines provided by the Department
of Defense to allow them to peer
inside metal shipping containers. Agents also use a device that analyses air
samples for minute traces of narcotics.

To search a boat, however, agents must first catch it.And that is becoming
increasingly more difficult. Smugglers are now using a new kind of craft,
appropriately called "go fast boats." These boats are usually equipped with
large engines and plenty of cargo space.Piloted by small crews, the boats
sometimes reach speeds up to 70 miles per hour.

A typical smuggling scenario goes like this: Larger boats or airplanes
bring drugs from South America to a "transshipment location" such as the
Bahamas. The cargo is then loaded onto a "go fast boat" which usually
begins its perilous journey into the United States around 2 a.m.

Depending on the pilot's knowledge of local waterways, the boat may dock at
a Florida marina, make its way through a canal to a residence or be met by
another boat at sea. Lt. Ron LeBrac, spokesman for the U.S. Coast
Guards' 7th district, said the Coast Guard is testing new boats provided by
the Office of National Drug Control Policy to counter the smugglers' crafts.

Like a corporation, drug cartels are innovative and flexible, forever
searching for ways to run end-round changing enforcement tactics. Advances
such as new and faster boats and planes to sophisticated
detection equipment have made smugglers fearful of putting all their eggs on
one basket.

"We've seen that over the past three years, our coke seizures have gotten
smaller in size," Sheehan said. "Instead of having 20,000 pound shipments,
they are now a just hundred of pounds. That makes it easier to hide and
smaller to detect. Sheehan said customs officials in 1996 seized
$585,000,000 worth of cocaine in south Florida. That amount fell in 1997 to
$395,000,000.