Pubdate: Thu, 16 Aug 2012
Source: Portland Press Herald (ME)
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/J9R991Zc
Copyright: 2012 MaineToday Media, Inc.
Website: http://www.pressherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/744
Author: David Hench

MAINE AGENT TAKES DRUG FIGHT TO AFGHANISTAN

Former soldier Scott Durst will help train drug agents to take down 
narcotics operations.

Scott Durst has spent the past 30 years fighting drugs in Maine, 
locking up users, dealers and distributors as part of his job keeping 
the streets safe in his adopted state.

Now, he's taking that fight to one of the most dangerous and desolate 
places on Earth, going after some of the worst drugs at their source: 
Afghanistan.

Durst, a longtime agent with the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency who 
served as a soldier in Bosnia and Iraq, is leaving Thursday on a 
mission as a contractor training Afghanistan's drug agents how to 
infiltrate and take down narcotics operations.

"It's something I feel I've been training and working for the past 30 
years," he said. "That will be kind of cool to focus on the 
supply-end things, rather than the demand."

Durst will work for Virginia-based Engility's law enforcement 
training program, assigned to a military base and working alongside 
U.S. soldiers and drug agents from Great Britain and Australia.

He's not free to discuss all of the details and said he doesn't yet 
know what the day-to-day operations will be like.

Durst's career is intensifying at an age when many officers are 
relaxing into retirement. He's 58, but few people would know it. He 
works out regularly and brings the same enthusiasm to his job that he 
did when he joined the Portland Police Department in the early 1980s, 
said his longtime friend Joseph Loughlin, who joined at the same time.

"The guy is still like he's in his 30s and 40s," said Loughlin, who 
rose through the ranks to assistant chief while Durst stayed in the 
field, often working undercover. "He's an incredibly fit individual 
and always seeking challenges, but he's also a dedicated 
professional, to his country and the city or whatever organization he's in."

Durst started his law enforcement career with the state police in 
Ohio and moved to Maine in 1979. He worked for a private 
investigator, going undercover in a paper mill where employees were 
stealing and selling paper.

Durst was attached to the 94th Military Police company as a reservist 
and was part of a peacekeeper mission in Bosnia. He carried out 
humanitarian missions like securing therapeutic equipment for a 
school for special-needs children in Lukavac.

His was among the earliest units sent to Iraq. The unit attracted 
attention for having its tour extended twice because commanders 
lacked enough experienced replacement fighters.

Durst spent most of his Maine career with the MDEA, but his position 
was eliminated as funding cuts squeezed the drug task force. He spent 
the past five months working as an investigator for the Maine 
Department of Corrections.

Durst's son served in Afghanistan with the Army's 126th Infantry. He 
returned home with a piece of shrapnel in his leg and a Purple Heart 
on his record.

Durst will be in Afghanistan as the U.S. and its allies reduce their 
combat forces and shift security responsibilities to the Afghan army. 
The country is as dangerous as ever, with Afghan police firing on 
NATO troops and the country's law enforcement effort targeted by 
opponents of the government.

"It just means you have to, obviously, be that much more proactive 
when it comes to who you trust," said Durst, who will not be on 
front-line patrols like a soldier but will probably accompany 
officers and soldiers on interdiction missions.

"My idea is, you don't trust anybody except for your team. You have 
to essentially be on constant vigil and watch each other, prepare for 
what may come up."

Durst said he doubts one man can make a significant dent in the drug 
trade that sends tons of opium from Afghanistan to be converted to 
heroin for use in Europe and America.

But he feels he can help.

"There's no illusions," he said. "Maybe (I could) help one or two 
officers who are in it for the right reasons."

Durst's experience as a soldier and a civilian drug agent made him a 
good fit for a job mentoring and training the Afghan equivalent of 
Drug Enforcement Administration agents.

They will learn about eradication strategies, setting up undercover 
drug buys and helping to bring solid cases with strong evidence to prosecutors.

He'll spend a year there, with an option for a second year.

Durst insists he's not someone who needs the rush of combat or its 
equivalent to give life meaning.

"I think anybody who knows me knows it's not about adrenaline," he 
said. "It's about opportunity and the adventure, experiencing 
different things -- and pushing the envelope a little bit. It's more 
about the experience than the adrenaline high."

There also are more personal benefits. The pay is much better than he 
made as an officer in Maine, though he won't say how much. And, to a 
guy who shows no signs of slowing down, it will look good on the resume.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom