Pubdate: 14 August 1999 Source: Daily Telegraph (UK) Copyright: of Telegraph Group Limited 1999 Contact: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ Author: Julian Nundy in Paris PENSIONERS RUN DRUGS TO BOOST CASH POLICE in the south of France have detained a 72-year-old Spaniard for transporting drugs, the 12th old-age pensioner caught this year, French customs said yesterday. The unnamed Spaniard, the oldest to be caught so far, was from Madrid and was carrying 22lb of cocaine in his car when he was stopped on Monday as he crossed from Italy. Police in Nice said the new breed of drug smugglers was likely to be European, aged more than 60, retired, carrying little luggage and travelling alone. Odile Gonthier, deputy head of customs in the Alpes Maritimes department, around Nice, said: "It's too early to talk about an established phenomenon, but more of a trend that is growing." The last old-aged smuggler caught in Nice was a Briton of 66 who was arrested at the city's airport in March with cocaine and heroin hidden in an aerosol and a can of shaving foam. Over the past six months, French police have arrested 10 others, four at Paris's Orly airport. One was carrying 17lb of cocaine. The other six were caught in the Paris suburbs, at the Channel port of Dunkirk and on the Spanish, Belgian and German frontiers. Police say the smugglers include both men and women who travel by car, aircraft or train, apparently confident that their silver hair will put them above suspicion. They have been caught carrying cocaine, heroin, cannabis resin and ecstasy. The trend for older people to turn to drug running was first noted in 1996 on France's border with Spain when two Italians, aged 58 and 61, were caught with 26lb of cocaine under the back seat of their car on which the woman's 81-year-old mother was sitting. Gilles Rouveure, a senior Nice police officer, said: "Their motive is to earn money to improve their lifestyle or repay their debts. Of course, they all say they did not know what they were carrying." One disabled Turk was caught carrying cocaine hidden inside the tubular structure of his wheelchair. - --- MAP posted-by: Thunder