Pubdate: Sat, 05 Mar 2005
Source: Lexington Herald-Leader (KY)
Copyright: 2005 Lexington Herald-Leader
Contact:  http://www.kentucky.com/mld/heraldleader/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/240
Author: Lee Mueller, Eastern Kentucky Bureau
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/raids.htm (Drug Raids)

DRUGS A NO-SHOW AT DRUG RAID

Painkiller Shipment Was Expected At UPS Center In Harlan

MIDDLESBORO - A planned drug raid by two of Kentucky's newer 
law-enforcement agencies was canceled yesterday after the drugs failed to 
show up.

Operation UNITE, a federally funded anti-drug program, and the Kentucky 
Bureau of Investigation had planned to swoop down on a UPS center in Harlan 
and arrest people who had ordered narcotics and sedatives on the Internet.

But no drugs or drug users showed up.

"There were no deliveries of illegal painkillers today," said David James, 
commissioner of the KBI, a division of the state attorney general's office.

Asked if someone might have tipped off suspects about the impending raid, 
James shrugged and smiled.

"They're very much aware of what we're doing," he said. "But they're not 
going to stop."

The UPS distribution outside Harlan on U.S. 119 was closed yesterday 
afternoon and attempts to reach officials by telephone were unsuccessful.

Normally, James said, a Florida-based Internet delivery service sends drugs 
daily to Kentucky. It may be significant in this instance, he said, "that 
they went out of business, like yesterday."

It was at least the second time in two weeks that authorities have staked 
out a shipping center, trolling for illegal prescription-drug traffic.

In February, UNITE and KBI arrested nine people at the UPS center in Hazard 
after seizing 13 packages of narcotics and sedatives worth about $12,000.

The arrests followed pledges by state and federal officials to crack down 
on what James yesterday called "rogue pharmacies" that ship drugs ordered 
online without valid prescriptions.

The problem is nationwide, but at least one shipping giant, Federal 
Express, has announced it will no longer deliver prescription pills to some 
areas of Kentucky.

Other shippers, however, have stepped in to fill the void, said James, who 
says he worries about the safety of drivers hauling drugs.
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MAP posted-by: Beth