ECSTASY SEIZURES UP SHARPLY AS SMUGGLERS FEED DEMAND

Over the past eight weeks, seizures of Ecstasy at Newark International
Airport have soared dramatically, with U.S. Customs Service inspectors
intercepting more than 542,000 tablets from smugglers traveling from
Europe, officials said.

So far this fiscal year, which began on Oct. 1, seizures of Ecstasy tablets
at Newark Airport equal nearly 65 percent of the total number intercepted
in all of last year, officials said.

"Over half a million tablets in seven-eight weeks -- that's huge," said
Thomas E. Manifase, assistant special agent in charge of the Customs
Service's Newark investigations office.

This surge follows a virtual standstill in smuggling of the "feel- good"
club drug through Newark Airport following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks,
a "dead period" that Manifase said lasted until about Oct. 20.

Authorities think heightened security at Newark and other airports across
the country discouraged smuggling rings from sending couriers with Ecstasy
tablets on commercial flights.

"I think the smugglers sensed the intense inspections and shut down their
operations," Manifase said.

Newark Airport is one of the nation's top destinations for Ecstasy
smugglers, partly because of its nine daily non-stop and connecting flights
to the Netherlands, where officials say 80 percent of the Ecstasy entering
the United States is produced.

Last fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, customs inspectors at Newark
Airport intercepted more than 851,000 Ecstasy tablets -- about twice as
many as in fiscal 2000, officials said.

Authorities believe that Ecstasy is most commonly smuggled to the United
States by couriers flying on commercial jetliners from Europe. When air
travel dropped sharply following Sept. 11, it became harder for couriers to
blend in with business travelers and tourists.

However, customs officials believe that with air travel again picking up,
and with demand for the drug rising, the laws of economics have kicked in.

"You've got a distributor in the States screaming, 'Where's my product?' "
explained Martin D. Ficke, the agent in charge of Newark customs
investigations office. "And suppliers are saying, 'We've got the product,
but we don't want to take a risk with the increased security.' Sooner or
later, something's got to give. And it did."

After Sept. 11, a buildup of Ecstasy produced in clandestine European
laboratories led to a surplus of the drug awaiting export to America, Ficke
said. Consequently, inspectors at Newark Airport have found that Ecstasy
couriers are carrying larger shipments than before.

"It's an attempt on their part to get as much in as they can and fill in
these back orders," Ficke said.

The growing demand for Ecstasy in the United States has outpaced the
ability of law enforcement agencies to stop its importation, officials say.
The synthetic drug has become increasingly popular because of its perceived
power to lower inhibitions and heighten feelings of exhilaration.

The drug's popularity extends to Europe, Asia, and Australia, as well, law
enforcement officials say.

"Ecstasy is booming right now," said Robert Mangiamele, who heads the U.S.
Drug Enforcement Administration's office in Berlin.

"The profit margin is great. And its bulk is not as great as cocaine," he
said, referring to the relatively small amount of space needed to hide the
tiny tablets in the false bottom of a suitcase or sewn into a garment's lining.

"Seizures have increased worldwide," Mangiamele said.

Authorities say the drug has been found in all of New Jersey's 21 counties
and is popular at clubs and at nightspots along the shore. A two-part
series published by The Record this summer also reported that Ecstasy is
finding its way into suburban neighborhoods.

After law enforcement authorities at Newark Airport began increasing their
scrutiny of flights originating in the Netherlands, smuggling organizations
began sending their couriers on circuitous routes to try to disguise the
origin of the contraband.

Since mid-October, most of the couriers arrested at Newark Airport were
traveling on jetliners arriving from Germany, Switzerland, or France --
countries close to the Netherlands and with good travel connections to
Amsterdam, officials said.

Many of the couriers arrested at Newark planned to meet traffickers
operating in the metropolitan area. Others planned to catch connecting
flights to a variety of U.S. destinations, officials said.

On Wednesday, a federal grand jury indicted five men for allegedly trying
to smuggle 1 million Ecstasy tablets from the Netherlands to the United
States between April and November. The men, two of whom are Dutch
nationals, ran the operation from Allentown, Pa., officials said. Some of
the tablets were hidden in storage lockers in Somerset and Mercer counties,
officials said.