Pubdate: Tue, 02 Nov 1999 Source: Associated Press Copyright: 1999 Associated Press Author: Tom Hays PROSECUTOR: TESTS SHOW COLONEL'S WIFE TRAFFICKED HEROIN, NOT COCAINE NEW YORK (AP) -- Two packages seized in a drug trafficking case against the wife of the former commander of the U.S. anti-drug operation in Colombia contained heroin, not cocaine as first thought, according to court papers. Laurie Ann Hiett, wife of Col. James Hiett, made headlines in August by surrendering to federal authorities in Brooklyn on drug conspiracy charges. Field tests had indicated two parcels she allegedly shipped to the United States from the U.S. Embassy in Bogota each held 1.2 kilos of cocaine. But since then, laboratory tests "have determined that these packages, in fact, contained heroin," prosecutor Lee Dunst wrote in a Oct. 21 letter to Mrs. Hiett's attorney. Dunst refused Tuesday to discuss the case. But in his letter, he said the fact the evidence is heroin instead of cocaine is "irrelevant" because, as an alleged drug smuggler, Mrs. Hiett "need not know the exact nature or type of drug in her possession." Prosecutors said at the time of Mrs. Hiett's arrest that if convicted on the cocaine charges, she faced up to 12 years in prison. Charges involving heroin can carry a stiffer penalty. Mrs. Hiett, 36 -- who has not been indicted and is free on bail -- has denied the charges. Her attorney, Paul Lazarus, said the new information does not change her defense: that she was unaware drugs were in the packages. "If she didn't know it was cocaine, she didn't know it was heroin," Lazarus said Tuesday. Court papers show Mrs. Hiett has agreed to give up her right to a speedy prosecution, in part to allow both sides to pursue a possible plea bargain. An investigation by the Army Criminal Investigation Division in Panama cleared Col. Hiett, saying he had "no prior knowledge" of alleged cocaine shipments to the United States involving his wife. At his request, he was transferred to Fort Monroe, Va., headquarters of the Training and Doctrine Command. Mrs. Hiett became a suspect in May when her name appeared on the return address on one of the two packages, which was seized after a routine search by U.S. Customs in Miami. The shoebox-size package had been shipped from the post office for U.S. citizens inside the U.S. Embassy in Bogota to a Queens address of Hernan Arcila. Undercover officers delivered the package to the home of Arcila, finding more drugs and documents naming Jorge Ayala, a civilian driver for U.S. military commanders in Colombia. They also arrested Arcila, who allegedly told them he had received five or six packages from the same source. After reviewing Customs records, investigators learned similar packages had been shipped from the embassy to a private post office box in Manhattan. There they seized another parcel containing what was then thought to cocaine. When Mrs. Hiett was finally confronted by investigators in June, she admitted shipping the packages and filing out the Customs forms. But she claimed she did it for Ayala, and denied knowing what she was sending. Ayala told investigators that Mrs. Hiett used cocaine and had asked him to buy the drug in a section of Bogota known for drug sales. Court papers said other witnesses reported seeing her there before. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake