DRUG-CORRUPTION PROBE NAMES SIXTH FORMER HAITIAN OFFICIAL

MIAMI -- The investigation into drugs, money and corruption in Haiti under
President Jean-Bertrand Aristide claimed a sixth former government official
on Tuesday.

Former SWAT chief Romaine Lestin is scheduled to appear this afternoon in
U.S. District Court in Miami. He also is identified in court documents as a
commissioner for the city of Tabre and the Port-au- Prince airport.

Lestin was taken into custody Friday in the Dominican Republic. Like the
others arrested before him, Lestin was accused in a criminal complaint of
conspiring to export cocaine into the United States.

According to an affidavit by DEA Agent Noble Harrison, Lestin took money
from cocaine traffickers to protect shipments at the Port-au- Prince
airport that were loaded on planes to the United States.

Lestin also is accused of shaking down traffickers on behalf of Jude
Perrin, director of the Haitian National Police. Perrin has not been
charged in the case, which also includes three high-ranking police
officials, Aristide's security chief, and a senator who was a leader in the
ruling Lavalas party.