DRUGS FOUND IN COFFEE ON AMERICAN FLIGHT

MIAMI, (Reuters) - An illegal substance was found in coffee packets in the
galley of an American Airlines flight from Colombia to Miami this month, an
airline spokeswoman said Friday. Miami television station WTVJ reported
the drug was heroin and it came to the attention of the crew when the pilot
of Flight 960 said his coffee ``didn't taste very good.'' The April 4
flight from Cali landed safely at Miami International Airport, American
Airlines spokeswoman Martha Pantin said. It was not certain if the pilot
had ingested heroin, she said. ``Something peculiar was noticed in the
coffee when it was brewed for the crew,'' Pantin said. ``The packets had
some illegal substance.'' WTVJ said U.S. Customs agents found 15 pounds of
heroin on the plane. Miami's air and seaports are key importation points
for South American drug cartels.

Tons of marijuana, cocaine and heroin have been found aboard passenger
jets, private aircraft and boats headed to Florida. U.S. authorities
arrested six American Airlines mechanics based at Miami International
Airport last July 31 on charges they conspired to smuggle cocaine and
heroin aboard passenger jets from South America. A day earlier, the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration in San Juan, Puerto Rico said 12 members of
a drug smuggling ring, most of them past or current Delta Air Lines Inc.
employees, had been indicted on drug charges.