BRAZIL SPEEDS UP SALE OF DRUG RUNNERS' ASSETS

BRASILIA (Reuters) - President Fernando Henrique Cardoso Tuesday
signed a decree that will speed the process whereby Brazil raises
money to fight drug trafficking by auctioning seized assets, officials
said.

``As the law stood, the auction of property taken from drug runners
could only happen after a conviction, which takes on average between
five and seven years,'' said Walter Maierovitch, the head of Brazil's
new National Anti-Drugs Secretariat.

``When we got around to the auction, the planes and cars were junk,''
he said.

About 100 planes, 200 trucks and several hundred cars are sitting in
police compounds while the former owners await trial.

Suspected drug traffickers found innocent would be reimbursed for any
assets seized and sold, Maierovitch said. ''This is a pioneering move
for Latin America.''

Large amounts of cocaine produced in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia pass
through Brazil on their way to Europe and the United States. Brazil is
also a producer of marijuana, grown in the country's arid northeast.

Checked-by: Patrick Henry