FRENCH POLICE SEIZE 1.2 TONNES OF COCAINE IN RAID

PARIS, Feb 13 (Reuters) - A raid on a suburban Paris warehouse netted more
cocaine than was seized in France in all of 1998, French police said on
Saturday.

Seven people were in custody in connection with the seizure of 1,200 kg
(2,650 lb) of the drug, they added.

The cocaine was found hidden in a van and concealed in a disused
merry-go-round being stored in a warehouse in the village of Tigery, south
of Paris.

Investigators said they had begun tracking the drug shipment after it was
unloaded in the northern French port of Dunkerque. They said it had been
shipped to France from Latin America by way of the French Caribbean island
of Guadeloupe.

{Reuters:International-0213.00071} 02/13/99