AIR FORCE JET WAS USED FOR DRUG RUN, AUTHORITIES SAY

NEW YORK - A U.S. military pilot and a sergeant were being held
on federal narcotics charges after admitting they flew an Air Force
jet from New York to Germany and returned with 290,000 pills of
Ecstasy worth millions of dollars, authorities said Wednesday.

Capt. Franklin Rodriguez, 35, and Master Sgt. John Fong, 36, were
arrested Tuesday when their cargo plane returned to Stewart Air
National Guard Base in Newburgh, about 40 miles north of New York City.

The men were ordered held without bail at court appearances late
Wednesday. Jennifer Brown, a lawyer for Fong, declined to comment. A
lawyer for Rodriguez could not immediately be reached for comment.

Rodriguez and Fong, members of the Air National Guard, allegedly went
to a hotel room in Germany and loaded packages of Ecstasy into their
personal luggage, the complaint alleged.

When they returned to Stewart, federal law enforcement agents watched
Fong load bags and boxes into a BMW registered to Rodriguez, the
complaint said.

Later, both men consented to interviews during which Rodriguez
admitted he had brought the drugs from Germany and had done so before,
eventually taking the drugs to his Bronx apartment for distribution,
the complaint said.

Fong admitted he brought pills on three other military flights and
that he was paid $10,000 a trip, the complaint said.

Christopher Giovino, an agent with the Drug Enforcement
Administration, said each pill of Ecstasy could be sold for between $9
and $40. That means the drugs seized in the case could be worth
between $2.9 million and $11.6 million on the street.

If convicted, the men face a maximum of 20 years in prison and a $1
million fine, prosecutors said.

Ecstasy, also known as MDMA, is a synthetic drug considered part
hallucinogen and part amphetamine.