Pubdate: Fri, 11 Jan 2002
Source: The Post and Courier (SC)
Copyright: 2002 Evening Post Publishing Co.
Contact:   http://www.charleston.net/index.html
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/567
Author: Tony Bartelme, of the Post and Courier Staff
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/pot.htm (Cannabis)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

MARIJUANA SEIZED AT PORT

Alert Customs Service inspectors using an X-ray machine and a drug-sniffing 
dog discovered two tons of Jamaican marijuana in a shipping container last 
August, officials revealed Thursday. Customs inspectors were doing routine 
inspections on containers when they noticed that a container had been 
routed from Jamaica through Panama to the port of Charleston, Customs 
assistant port director Rod Wallace said. Inspectors then ran the container 
through a new X-ray machine that can scan an entire container at once. 
Something didn't look right inside, and with the Charleston Police 
Department's dog "Paddy" nearby, inspectors opened the container. "As soon 
as we opened the door, the dog hit on it right away," Wallace said. About 
3,981 pounds of marijuana were in 193 boxes commingled with other boxes 
containing crackers, fruit juices and other food. The street-value of the 
marijuana was about $5.2 million, said Frank Algozzini, Customs special 
agent in charge in Charleston. News of the seizure wasn't released until 
Thursday because Customs and Drug Enforcement Agency investigators are 
still trying to track down who sent the shipment and find out who else was 
involved. No arrests have been made. Agents destroyed the marijuana and 
donated the food to the local food bank. The seizure was another example of 
how drug dealers use shipping containers to smuggle their contraband into 
the United States, officials said. In Charleston, federal agents found more 
than 6,500 pounds of cocaine and 10,000 pounds of marijuana in containers 
during the past three years, Algozzini said. Drug smugglers have hidden 
cocaine and marijuana in luggage, soap boxes and in plastic pipes packed in 
sheet metal and hardened asphalt. A special panel on port security recently 
found that during a three-year period, law enforcement agents seized more 
than 300,000 pounds of cocaine, marijuana and heroin at the nation's top 12 
ports, including Charleston. That was three times the amount discovered in 
vehicles passing through the nation's border with Mexico. Customs officials 
said the new X-ray machine and a drug-sniffing dog have helped their 
efforts to detect drugs in containers. The agency acquired the X-ray 
machine through the efforts of U.S. Sen. Fritz Hollings, who has been 
pushing efforts to increase security at the nation's seaports.

Tony Bartelme covers maritime and other issues. Contact him at  or 937-5554.
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MAP posted-by: Jackl