SECURITY CHANGES LEAD TO DROP IN DRUG BUSTS

At Augusta Regional Airport, officials say, the war on terrorism has helped
the war on drugs. It's also rooted out everything from head shears to toy
guns as the result of increased bag searches since Sept. 11, 2001. "None of
them (the recoveries from searches) have been major that I've been aware
of," said Kathryn Solee, the airport's director of marketing. However, she
said there have been a few cases of drugs being found in bags.

"It's not like a major drug bust," she said. "It ranks on the level of
stupidity."

Sgt. Allan Rollins, of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office, said he's
aware of two cases in which someone was caught with drugs in luggage at
Augusta Regional within the past three months. He said they were both minor
but that they signal to him that major drug dealers are shying away from
airports as a means of transporting contraband.

"That has really squelched since 9-11," he said of drugs being smuggled
onto planes, noting that drug shipments now seem to be taking place more by
automobile. "It makes it (transporting drugs) more difficult for them (drug
dealers), and it gives us a little more advance warning when something's
going to happen."

Still, that hasn't stopped everyone. One incident at Augusta Regional three
weeks ago involved a man who police say tried to sneak about five marijuana
cigarettes on a plane in his shaving kit. Luggage screeners immediately
found the drugs.

"When he was arrested, it didn't even cross his mind that they were
checking that closely when you get on an airplane," Sgt. Rollins said. "He
just wasn't thinking, I guess."

Sgt. Rollins said several years ago, 6 kilograms of cocaine were discovered
involving an Augusta flight. But the volume of drugs being found has dropped.

"We've dropped from 6 kilos to a dime bag," he said.

Gerald Chapman, a federal security director for the Transportation Security
Administration and a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent, agrees.

"I think it's put a real deterrence in," he said. "You'll still find people
making an attempt, which has happened. But it's not like it used to be."

Mr. Chapman, who served as a DEA agent for 29 years, said drug dealers used
plane flights "a lot" before Sept. 11, 2001, because it was a quick means
of transport and fewer bag checks were conducted.

"I remember those days when you had people using mass transit to transport
drugs," he said. "And, of course, the metal detectors would not detect
those things."

Mr. Chapman said that, although drug shipments by plane probably have
decreased, many passengers continue to bring other prohibited items to
airports.

The most common banned items that have been found at Augusta Regional since
the Sept. 11 attacks include nail files, scissors, pocket knives and cork
screws, officials said.

"TSA always usually has a pile of stuff," Mrs. Solee said.