PARAPHERNALIA STING YIELDS EASY ARRESTS

IRWIN, Pa. (AP) -- Some customers at an alleged Westmoreland County head
shop targeted in a national drug paraphernalia sweep were arrested for
trying to buy paraphernalia while a raid was being conducted, authorities
said.

North Huntingdon Township police Chief Charles Henaghan said his local
officers were assisting federal agents when they made several arrests at a
store called Heads-N-Threads on Monday.

The arrests occurred as customers continued to come into the shop while
uniformed police and federal drug agents swarmed the store, Henaghan said.
Police said some customers had drugs on them.

One woman was arrested after she walked up to a federal Drug Enforcement
Administration agent -- wearing a shirt with a DEA insignia -- and asked to
buy a pipe just like the one he was holding, police said.

''It was almost hard to believe,'' Henaghan said. ''I don't know how to
characterize it -- as naivete, stupidity or whatever -- to walk into a store
when you have uniformed officers standing there and try to buy something
illegal from them.''

Federal authorities have charged 55 people as part of the national sweep
that targeted alleged paraphernalia dealers near Pittsburgh, as well as in
states such as Iowa and California. Authorities said the investigation
stretches from Oregon and California to Texas, Michigan and South Carolina.

Henaghan said his officers, based 25 miles east of Pittsburgh, also made
eight additional arrests.