NEW DRUG ENFORCEMENT UNIT ARRESTS 14 IN STEPPED-UP EFFORT

Maryland State Police have seized more than 40 pounds of cocaine and
marijuana, arrested 14 people and recovered more than $100,000 since
stepping up efforts to catch drug smuggling along the state's highways.

Col. Edward T. Norris said yesterday that he formed a unit May 5 and
increased drug interdiction efforts this month to stem the flow of drugs
into Baltimore and other Maryland communities.

On May 12, the unit stopped a car heading for Baltimore with half a
kilogram of powder cocaine inside. Two days later, on May 14, it stopped
another car heading for Rockville that held 6 kilograms of pure cocaine.

"You don't want people thinking this is a free state -- you can drive
around trafficking your wares," Norris said at a news conference where some
of the drugs and two seized guns were displayed.

The state police superintendent's moves follow years of criticism that
state police road stops were racially motivated.

Norris said the criticism had dampened drug enforcement on state highways,
which he wants to reverse.

His new unit, called the Interstate Criminal Enforcement team, gathers
intelligence, roams stretches of highway known to have a heavy
concentration of drug smugglers and makes routine traffic stops in search
of drugs.

Norris emphasized that the troopers on the team -- he declined to say how
many for security reasons -- received training approved by the U.S.
Department of Justice's civil rights division on making traffic stops.
Their stops are reviewed daily.

The arrests have stemmed from speeding violations, operating a vehicle with
tinted windows and other traffic violations, state police said. Troopers
have found drugs and money stashed in secret compartments that are opened
electronically.