DEA AGENT: DRUG SMUGGLERS CIRCUMVENT AIRPORT SECURITY

Scrutiny of passengers may be more intense at airports today than in
past years, but drug smugglers continue to find ways to circumvent
security measures, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent told
members of the Kona Crime Prevention Committee Wednesday.

"Drugs are being strapped on the person," Jimmy Yuen said. "(The
Transportation Security Administration is) doing the best they can,
but due to the amount of people coming through, they can't search
everyone. ... There's so many ways drugs can come in here."

Yuen is a member of the DEA's airport task force, which is one of the
primary agencies performing drug interdiction, or interception, in
Hawaii's airports. Besides strapping drugs on a smuggler's body,
drugs are hidden inside furniture and vehicles shipped from the West
Coast, he said.

TSA agents do sometimes catch people with drugs. When they do, they
contact the DEA, Yuen said.

Police Department Maj. John Dawrs, speaking later in the meeting,
agreed that catching people with drugs can be a difficult task for
TSA screeners.

"TSA's job really is to make sure our flights are safe and we're not
blown out of the sky," Dawrs said, adding that the DEA's task force
is the only federal agency with the specific goal of intercepting drugs.

Often, smugglers will arrive on late-night or early morning flights,
deliver their illicit wares to distributors in the islands, then
return the same day or the next day, Yuen said. Weekend flights are
also frequently used for the drug trade. Before direct flights to
neighbor islands began, drugs would route through the Honolulu
Airport on the way to other locations, he added.

The efforts are working, Yuen said, noting that street prices for
illegal drugs are rising, a sign that supply is harder to obtain.
Police can benefit from working with federal law enforcement agencies
because of the possibility of stiffer penalties upon conviction, Yuen said.

Local and federal law enforcement officers encouraged the public to
continue to provide information about suspicious activity.

That kind of information is the best way to make sure police and
federal agents know what might be happening, Yuen said.

"It's all about tips," Yuen said. "It's all about networking and
providing information."

Yuen used the January Officer of the Month honoree, Thomas Shopay, as
an example of how law enforcement agents take tips from the public
and turn that information into arrests. Shopay, who joined the Kona
Airport Task Force in 2004, received a tip that people may be
bringing drugs from San Francisco to Kona on a flight that stopped on Maui.

Police allowed the four men suspected of carrying the drugs to
retrieve their luggage at Kona International Airport, then stopped
the men. One of the men would not give permission to search his backpack.

"Officer Shopay, anticipating things like that, which is what we do,
had a K-9 standing by," said Detective Gilbert Gaspar, who nominated Shopay.

The dog gave a "positive alert" on the bag, indicating drugs might be
inside. Shopay requested and received a search warrant for the bag
and found 2.5 pounds of crystal methamphetamine, which has a street
value of approximately $200,000. The four men were taken into federal custody.

"He's very diligent," Gaspar said, describing Shopay. "He's a worker
any supervisor would love to have under their command."

Shopay deferred credit to other officers involved with the investigation.

The success came from "a culmination of planning, teamwork and
commitment," he said.