U.S. HUNTS DRUGS, BUT THE ODDS FAVOR SMUGGLERS

It was early evening, and the crew on a U.S. Air Force surveillance jet was
taking a hard look at a suspicious plane that had just taken off from
Venezuela.

"He's not squawking," says Air Force Lt. Col. Bryan Dickson, the commander,
meaning the plane was not broadcasting the standard signal to air traffic
controllers. "Anyone not squawking is suspect."

The Associated Press got a rare look at the U.S. military's counter-drug
operations over the Caribbean, the transit zone for 30 percent of
U.S.-bound cocaine.

During the 12-hour flight aboard an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control
System, or AWACS, the crew would engage in a high-tech chase, illustrating
the extensive military resources the U.S. and its allies are using against
drug traffickers.

But it also showed just how much the odds still favor the smugglers.

The flight came with conditions. Under military rules, it was forbidden to
reveal many details, from the size of the crew to the color and shape of
symbols on radar screens that looked like old-school video games. The
secrecy was intended to avoid tipping off traffickers, as well as anyone
else interested in American military capabilities.

The flight took off Saturday night from Curacao, an island about 30 miles
north of Venezuela, where the U.S. keeps military planes and personnel, and
required a mid-air refueling.

Though it stayed in the air long enough to reach Alaska, the plane never
left the Caribbean as the crew undertook the challenge of trying to
identify suspicious planes among the dozens of aircraft cruising the skies.
Air Force crews also monitor boats, an even tougher task given the traffic
in the region.

Among the details shrouded in secrecy was how the E-3 crew knew to look for
the plane from Venezuela. The order came from the U.S. military's anti-drug
command center in Key West, Fla., said Air Force Capt. Kim McClain, a
senior crew member. But the source of that tip was a secret.

As they watched the plane, the crew found more grounds for suspicion.

Dickson, a reservist from Denton, Texas, noted the plane's route --
straight out over open water toward Central America, a big expanse of water
for a pilot sending out no signal.

The military also dispatched a Navy plane to check the tail number, which
turned out to be fake.

Next, another plane -- from a country that can't be disclosed -- was sent
out to tail the suspect. That plane eventually turned back, and the E-3 was
again the lone tracker, flying within 60 miles of the suspicious aircraft
at one point before slowing down to avoid overtaking it.

Little was known about the suspect plane, but military officials had a good
idea what it was up to.

About 20 percent of cocaine is shipped by air -- a more expensive method
than by sea -- and the planes can only carry about 1,000 pounds at a time,
Coast Guard Rear Adm. Joseph Nimmich said in an interview before the flight.

About 90 percent of drug flights take off from Venezuela, carrying cocaine
mostly produced in neighboring Colombia, a close U.S. ally. U.S.
authorities accuse the government of President Hugo Chavez of not
cooperating in the fight against drug traffickers, an accusation the
Venezuelans deny.

The airborne surveillance crews track about 600 flights and 100 ships per
month. So far this year, the U.S. and its allies have seized 229 tons of
cocaine, five tons of marijuana and 166,000 grams of heroin in Latin
America and the Caribbean, with a total street value of $4.1 billion, the
military says.

But success is rare.

U.S. and allied nations manage to coordinate the military and civilian law
enforcement necessary to catch drug runners only about 5 percent of the
time. In a place like Haiti, a frequent destination, there is virtually
nothing that can be done once the plane lands because the impoverished
country has so few resources to respond, the admiral said.

"We're lucky we get 5 percent," Nimmich said. "Everything has to come
together perfectly."