VENEZUELA SEIZES MORE THAN TON OF MARIJUANA

CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan authorities said they seized more than a
tonne of marijuana at gunpoint on Friday after they intercepted a
smuggler's van in the eastern state of Zulia en route from Colombia.

Gen. Miguel Ramirez, head of the National Guard's Anti-drugs unit, said the
drugs were "undeniably loaded in Colombia." The vehicle was halted by a
routine patrol in a rural area, and two of its three passengers escaped
while the third, a Venezuelan, was arrested.

According to National Guard figures, some 14.3 tonnes of illegal drugs were
captured in Venezuela last year, of which nine tonnes were cocaine and five
tonnes were marijuana.

Venezuela has become one of the major drug trafficking routes between the
world's No. 1 cocaine producer, Colombia, and lucrative markets in the
United States and Europe.