COKE-CARRYING PLANE NABBED AT VENTURA COUNTY AIRPORT

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 12 - A pilot who allegedly flew about 500 pounds of
cocaine and some marijuana from Mexico to Ventura County's Santa Paula
Airport Wednesday was arrested at the scene, the U.S. Customs Service
reported.

The 52-year-old U.S. citizen, whose name was not immediately released,
was taken into custody just after 10 a.m., after the Cessna 320
landed, said Mike Fleming of the Customs Service.

The seized cocaine has an estimated wholesale value of $4.1 million to
$4.8 million, a Customs official said. Three firearms also were
confiscated.

Fleming said March Air Force Base initially began tracking the plane
on radar when it crossed into the United States about 7 a.m. at Laguna
Salada in Imperial County.

Once in this country, the plane was regarded as suspicious because it
was flying about 150 feet off the ground, just low enough not to be
tracked by radar, said Drug Enforcement Administration spokeswoman
Sharon Carter.

"They chased him around until he ran out of gas," Carter said.
Smugglers often use the desert area, Fleming said.

At an afternoon news conference, Customs spokesman John Hensley said
that investigators found several duffel bags filled with what field
tests indicated is cocaine. He said an estimate of the total amount of
cocaine is 500 pounds, and with "the current wholesale street value
of cocaine in this area (being) between $17,000 and $19,000 a kilo,
rough math would give you a street value of between $4.1 million and
$4.8 million."

Checked-by: "Don Beck"