Haitian Peasants Pull Off Big Cocaine Heist

By Nicole Volpe FLAMAND, Haiti (Reuters) A village of peasants allegedly
led by their pastor were suspected in the heist of two tons of Colombian
cocaine that frustrated police said Sunday they were so far unable to
recover.

"Everyone in the village is implicated," said the chief of an elite police
intervention force called in to find the drugs. "We understand there was as
much as two tons of cocaine on board and everyone took some."

Among those arrested was the local pastor Joseph Henri, who police alleged
was a ringleader in the theft.

"We have solid evidence against the pastor," said the police chief. "He must
have told his congregation it was a gift from God."

Residents of the impoverished southern village of Flamand, who watch a
fortune in illegal drugs regularly coming ashore on local beaches, said a
Colombian drug trafficking boat ran aground last Tuesday just offshore of
the village. The peasants massed on the beach in large enough numbers to
terrorize the boat's captain away, police said, and seize the valuable
stash.

"They took the drugs and even stole the motor off the boat," said the police
chief. "We understand they buried the cocaine, God knows where. We haven't
heard anything more about the captain, so maybe they buried him too. We
searched every house and made arrests, but we still haven't found anything."

Police said they didn't know what measures, if any, would recover the
cocaine. International and Haitian police were meeting over the weekend to
discuss strategy. But the peasants in Flamand said they only had to wait.

"Eventually they will forget about it," said one resident. "Then, with the
heat off, people here will just very quietly get rich."

Police said a portion of the cocaine has already been sold by the Flamand
villagers, producing a deadly skirmish with police and yet another heist by
locals. A panel truck filled with the stolen cocaine bound for
PortauPrince was caught in traffic near a routine police checkpoint on the
road to the capital, officials said. The traffickers tried to turn the truck
around, smashing into surrounding cars and ultimately opening fire on
police, killing a driver in a nearby car, said Miragoane Police Chief
Jolicoeur Serge.

"I had to hide. They had automatic weapons, and all we have are these," said
Serge, waving a pistol in the air.

Police ran in one direction, and the gunmen ran in the other, leaving a
truck full of cocaine in the middle of the road, which was promptly raided
by the local population. Merchants said the looters ran through the streets
with kilos of drugs under their arms.

"When we got back to the truck, there was still 150 kilos inside," said
Serge. "We don't know how much was there before."

The deadly road skirmish may not be the end to the violence associated with
the stolen cache. Expensive four wheel drive vehicles, believed to belong to
Haitian drug traffickers, have been driving through Flamand on a nightly
basis, presumably in search of the missing cocaine.

"There have been gunshots at night all week," said a resident. "Most people
buried their drugs and went into hiding."

Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, is considered by the
U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to be a major transshipment point for cocaine
moving from Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Central America to the
United States. The U.S. Coast Guard estimated as much 30 metric tons of
cocaine annually transit through Haiti to the United States, despite a U.N.
peacekeeping presence and international police trainers, who act as advisers
at police stations throughout Haiti. Drug trafficking experts attributed
much of Haiti's rampant instability to competition between various sectors
to control the country's drug trade.