INTERNET MAKES DRUG TRAFFICKERS HARD TO CATCH: DEA

Lima, March 19: The Internet and cellular telephones are making drug
traffickers harder than ever to catch and the job will only become more
difficult as technology develops, a US anti-drug official said on Thursday.

Messages in Internet chat rooms, where drug smugglers in Latin America can
arrange cocaine deliveries in London or Berlin, are almost impossible to
intercept and cellular phone text messages cannot be tracked by
authorities, Mark Malcolm, intelligence analyst at the United States Drug
Enforcement Administration, told an international drug conference in Lima.

"We are at a great disadvantage because we cannot intercept text messages
or instant messaging. The only real possibility is by using undercover
officers, who put their lives at risk," Malcolm told delegates.

Cocaine smuggling to Europe is on the rise as cartels find new ways to
evade authorities, shipping drugs via Africa, according to European
anti-drug officials. Latin American authorities also concede they are no
closer to beating the drug trade because of a lack of resources and
intelligence.

And the rise of new technology only makes it more difficult, Malcolm said.

"As wireless technology develops there are now a multitude of avenues to
surf the Internet anonymously and our attempts at surveillance are tenuous
at best," he said.

Many Latin American cartels use free electronic mail services to
communicate with drug ring members around the world and hook up illegally
to wireless Internet routers in cities to avoid being tracked to a
land-based server, Malcolm said.

"Traffickers can also go to a Starbucks and link a laptop up to the coffee
shop's wireless network and go out on the web anonymously, so it is a
daunting task," Malcolm said.

The growth of "hushmail," or encrypted mail, also presents a new challenge
to anti-drug authorities, he said.

"Few traffickers currently use hushmail, but it would present an enormous
problem if they do start," he added.

Malcolm said the DEA needed governments around the world to work more
closely to track and intercept traffickers, because the US drug agency
"cannot do the job alone."