Source: Wire (Reuters) Pubdate: Sun, 16 Nov 1997 Haitian Peasants Pull Off Big Cocaine Heist By Nicole Volpe FLAMAND, Haiti (Reuters) A village of peasants allegedly led by their pastor were suspected in the heist of two tons of Colombian cocaine that frustrated police said Sunday they were so far unable to recover. "Everyone in the village is implicated," said the chief of an elite police intervention force called in to find the drugs. "We understand there was as much as two tons of cocaine on board and everyone took some." Among those arrested was the local pastor Joseph Henri, who police alleged was a ringleader in the theft. "We have solid evidence against the pastor," said the police chief. "He must have told his congregation it was a gift from God." Residents of the impoverished southern village of Flamand, who watch a fortune in illegal drugs regularly coming ashore on local beaches, said a Colombian drug trafficking boat ran aground last Tuesday just offshore of the village. The peasants massed on the beach in large enough numbers to terrorize the boat's captain away, police said, and seize the valuable stash. "They took the drugs and even stole the motor off the boat," said the police chief. "We understand they buried the cocaine, God knows where. We haven't heard anything more about the captain, so maybe they buried him too. We searched every house and made arrests, but we still haven't found anything." Police said they didn't know what measures, if any, would recover the cocaine. International and Haitian police were meeting over the weekend to discuss strategy. But the peasants in Flamand said they only had to wait. "Eventually they will forget about it," said one resident. "Then, with the heat off, people here will just very quietly get rich." Police said a portion of the cocaine has already been sold by the Flamand villagers, producing a deadly skirmish with police and yet another heist by locals. A panel truck filled with the stolen cocaine bound for PortauPrince was caught in traffic near a routine police checkpoint on the road to the capital, officials said. The traffickers tried to turn the truck around, smashing into surrounding cars and ultimately opening fire on police, killing a driver in a nearby car, said Miragoane Police Chief Jolicoeur Serge. "I had to hide. They had automatic weapons, and all we have are these," said Serge, waving a pistol in the air. Police ran in one direction, and the gunmen ran in the other, leaving a truck full of cocaine in the middle of the road, which was promptly raided by the local population. Merchants said the looters ran through the streets with kilos of drugs under their arms. "When we got back to the truck, there was still 150 kilos inside," said Serge. "We don't know how much was there before." The deadly road skirmish may not be the end to the violence associated with the stolen cache. Expensive four wheel drive vehicles, believed to belong to Haitian drug traffickers, have been driving through Flamand on a nightly basis, presumably in search of the missing cocaine. "There have been gunshots at night all week," said a resident. "Most people buried their drugs and went into hiding." Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, is considered by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency to be a major transshipment point for cocaine moving from Colombia, the Dominican Republic and Central America to the United States. The U.S. Coast Guard estimated as much 30 metric tons of cocaine annually transit through Haiti to the United States, despite a U.N. peacekeeping presence and international police trainers, who act as advisers at police stations throughout Haiti. Drug trafficking experts attributed much of Haiti's rampant instability to competition between various sectors to control the country's drug trade.