DRUG SMUGGLING REPORTED UP AT JFK DESPITE CRACKDOWN

NEW YORK - Drug trafficking is up at John F. Kennedy International Airport,
despite heightened post-Sept. 11 security measures at area airports,
according to a published report.

In the last seven months, customs inspectors at JFK Airport have seized
three times as much heroin and Ecstasy as in the same period between 2000
and 2001, the Daily News reported Sunday.

The report also said the number of people who tried to smuggle drugs by
swallowing them was up by 65 percent at JFK.

Customs officials said the increase is in part because drug traffickers
believe security checks are focusing on terrorists, not drugs.

"One of the smugglers, while he was passing the drugs, said, "Don't you
read the papers? You should be looking for terrorists,' " said Susan
Mitchell, the top customs official at JFK. "They thought this was a
vulnerable time."

At Newark (N.J.) International Airport, the amount of heroin seized has
risen 40 percent in the past seven months, the News reported.