Pubdate: Fri, 12 Mar 1999 Source: Australian, The (Australia) Copyright: News Limited 1999 Contact: http://www.theaustralian.com.au/ Author: Matthew Abraham and Christopher Dore UP IN SMOKE: DRUGS SLIP BY POLICE SOUTH Australian Police Commissioner Mal Hyde admitted yesterday that 4kg of drugs may have slipped by police in the bungled Cheech and Chong Affair, in which two federal Labor MPs were wrongly accused of cannabis smuggling. However, he refused to apologise over his officers' handling of the case, inferred federal police were at fault and rejected as paranoid accusations of malice or political motivation. He blamed the mix-up on an "unfortunate twist of fate" caused because backbencher David Cox could have had a bag similar to one belonging to the drug suspects. "It's not Keystone Kops . . . it's an unfortunate incident," Mr Hyde said. Because of information from South Australian officers, Mr Cox and a fellow South Australian, frontbencher Martyn Evans, were marched off an aircraft by federal police in Canberra on Sunday night, questioned and their carry-on luggage searched. Mr Evans said last night that while there was little point in pursuing an apology, the operation had been "bungled from go to whoa". "They let the real couriers get through," he said. "The real couriers must be laughing themselves stupid." The incident has been dubbed the Cheech and Chong Affair in Canberra and Adelaide political circles (after the stars of the cult 1970s marijuana movie Up In Smoke). But Mr Hyde said: "We took reasonable steps to make sure the information was reliable and properly acted on by the Australian Federal Police. Now how they dealt with it, that's a question for them." Mr Hyde said that after receiving anonymous information that 4kg of cannabis would be smuggled on the flight, police observed luggage being checked in by two suspects at Adelaide Airport. An officer and sniffer dog failed to detect any drugs in the checked-in baggage area, but the name Cox was identified on a bag similar to one checked in by the suspects. A hand-luggage scanner showed a "suspicious image" in the two carry-on bags presented by the two suspects, but by the time a response team had been called they had boarded the aircraft. Because the airline had established that a Mr Cox was travelling with a Mr Evans, federal police were informed the two suspects "may be travelling under the names of Cox and Evans". When asked yesterday whether the suspects had been wearing suits and travelling in business class, Mr Hyde said the descriptions supplied to Canberra police did not resemble Mr Cox or Mr Evans. - --- MAP posted-by: Patrick Henry