POLICE SAY TRAFFIC INSPECTIONS SLOWED DRUG FLOW INTO CITY

Police inspections of vehicles coming into the city that were started after
the Sept. 11 attack have apparently stalled drug traffic, law enforcement
officials said yesterday while announcing three arrests and a large seizure
of cocaine.

Investigators seized 440 pounds of high-grade cocaine in mid-December, a
holiday shipment with an estimated street value of $25 million, said
District Attorney Richard A. Brown of Queens. The cocaine crossed into the
country through Tijuana, Mexico, and was taken to San Diego, then to
Nazareth, Pa., and finally to New York City, Mr. Brown said.

Narcotics detectives learned of the impending shipment in early December
and heard that the drug distributors -- apparently unnerved by stepped-up
security around New York City -- needed new deliverymen to transport the
cocaine in lettuce trucks from Pennsylvania, Mr. Brown said. Undercover
officers met with two of the suspected traffickers, Jose Lopez, 39, and
Fred Leyva, 30, in Nazareth on Dec. 17 and agreed to drive the drugs to
Woodside, Queens, for $45,000, he said.

Later that day, when the officers arrived at the delivery location, the
corner of 64th Street and Queens Boulevard, they were met by Manuel Marte,
27, who loaded the cocaine into his Honda sedan and was then arrested, Mr.
Brown said. Mr. Marte was being held in Queens without bail, while Mr.
Lopez and Mr. Leyva awaited extradition from Pennsylvania.

"We can put a number on the amount of drugs that are seized here," said
Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly at the news conference. "We can put a
number on the street value of the drugs, but we can't put a number on the
lives that are saved as a result of the seizure."

The three men arrested have been charged with criminal possession of a
controlled substance and, if convicted, could face up to life in prison,
Mr. Brown said.

Heightened security at the city's bridges and tunnels in the aftermath of
the terrorist attack had affected the traffickers' usual distribution
arrangements, Mr. Brown said, "forcing them to reach out beyond their
immediate operation in order to meet their holiday deadline."

In addition to stanching the flow of drugs into New York, police
inspections have also indirectly lowered the price of drugs, said Inspector
Thomas Mullen of the Queens narcotics squad. A kilogram of cocaine, which
would generally cost $28,000 wholesale, now runs around $23,000, Inspector
Mullen said.

The drug traffic "tends to bottleneck outside the city and they have to get
rid of these loads," Inspector Mullen said. "They have to get their money,
so they're willing to let it go at a cheaper price."