Pubdate: Thu, 30 Mar 2000 Source: Tampa Tribune (FL) Copyright: 2000, The Tribune Co. Contact: http://www.tampatrib.com/ Forum: http://tampabayonline.net/interact/welcome.htm Section: Nation/World Page 4 Author: Lorraine Adams, of the Washington Post CARIBBEAN DRUG RAIDS NAB 2,331 SUSPECTS WASHINGTON - Authorities join forces to launch an all-out offensive targeting low-level drug operatives. Arresting a record 2,331 suspected narcotics traffickers, law enforcement agencies from the United States and other Western Hemisphere nations have completed a massive bust they hope will at least temporarily restrict the flow of illegal narcotics from the Caribbean to Central and South America, officials announced Wednesday. The yearlong investigation and 17-day sweep, dubbed Operation Conquistador, corralled no high-level traffickers. But it represented an unusual strategy for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, one that DEA official Michael S. Vigil likened to a wide and destructive storm. ``What we were looking at was creating, maximizing a complete disruption,'' said Vigil, the special agent in charge of the DEA's Caribbean Field Division. ``We really didn't target one specific organization. It was anybody and everybody. We wanted to go in there like a hurricane hitting the Caribbean.'' The effort was powered by technology that may seem commonplace in the United States - a specially designed 28-country database and e-mail network. But to the small Caribbean and Central American nations that the DEA mentored through the investigation, it was a leap forward. ``Operation Conquistador is the direct result of unprecedented cooperation between 26 nations united in a common goal,'' Attorney General Janet Reno said in a prepared statement. ``These nations reached across geographic, economic and cultural boundaries to fight drug trafficking.'' Led by the DEA, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the Coast Guard, the countries' law enforcement agencies blew across the Caribbean, Central America and South America beginning March 10. They eradicated coca fields, destroyed 94 cocaine laboratories, and searched 7,300 vessels, vehicles, aircraft and homes. They hauled in 5,000 kilograms of cocaine, 56 kilograms of heroin, 14 kilograms of morphine base, 362 metric tons of marijuana, 73 kilograms of hashish oil and an array of drug-making chemicals. About half of those arrested were from the Dominican Republic, which has developed into a major shipment point for drugs coming from Colombia to the United States, Vigil said. A quarter of those arrested were Colombian nationals, he estimated. The intended destinations of the drugs were the United States and Europe. The arrests were made by police in their respective countries, with the assistance of U.S. law enforcement. Local prosecutors will file the cases in the countries where the arrests were made. While the number of arrests was large, most drug traffickers are replaced quickly by others drawn to the lucrative trade. What makes Operation Conquistador notable is the DEA's mentoring of tiny law enforcement agencies with little funding or expertise. As part of a growing effort in the Caribbean and Central and South America to interdict drugs coming from countries such as Colombia, the countries asked to be part of the Unified Caribbean On-line Regional Network, a DEA system that allowed countries with little infrastructure or resources to exchange information on tactics, strategy and investigative work. Mexico and Peru, two nations whose role in drug trafficking is substantive, have expressed interest in joining the network, Vigil said. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea