Coast Guard Reports Shift in Caribbean Drug Trafficking;
Seizure Value Nearly $1 Billion

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, July 30 /PRNewswire/ U.S. Coast Guard
Commandant Adm. Robert E. Kramek reported today to U.S.
Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater that Operation Frontier
Shield, an interagency effort to counter narcotics trafficking, has
resulted in the seizure of narcotics with a street value of nearly $1
billion and has deterred drug smuggling activity in the eastern
Caribbean region.

Frontier Shield is credited with denying nearly 30 tons of drugs
from entering Puerto Rico; disrupting more than 77 percent of
known trafficking attempts between October 1996 and early June
1997; seizing 24,000 pounds of illegal drugs, worth nearly $1
billion; arresting 99 suspected traffickers; and seizing 23
smuggling vessels.

"The vigilance and dedication of our interagency interdiction
forces in the eastern Caribbean are commendable," Secretary
Slater said. "They are an important part of President Clinton's
interdiction strategy, and their initial success means that we have
effectively decreased drug smuggling around Puerto Rico."

Admiral Kramek said interagency assessments that monitor drug
trafficking trends and patterns revealed a decrease in smuggling
activity around Puerto Rico. He attributed this decrease to the
constant pressure being placed on traffickers by Operation
Frontier Shield forces.

"In August of 1996, I told the traffickers we were going to make
life difficult for them, that we were going to kick them out and
keep them out," Admiral Kramek said. "Today, after months of
hard work and vigilance by Coast Guard, Puerto Rican and federal
authorities the Drug Enforcement Agency, Customs, FBI we
are seeing clear indications that traffickers are moving their
operations elsewhere away from Puerto Rico. Traffickers are
now being forced to use new routes. As a result, they're much
more vulnerable when they try to establish themselves in new
areas."

Operation Frontier Shield is an interagency effort that began on
Oct. 1, 1996, to deter and deny smugglers access to the eastern
Caribbean and Puerto Rico area, the most active drag trafficking
area in the Caribbean.

An electronic version of this document can be obtained via the
World Wide Web at: http://www.dot.gov/affairs/index.htm

SOURCE U.S. Department of Transportation

/CONTACT: PAI David Silva, 7877296800 ext. 121, or Cmdr. Jeff
Karonis, 2023661748, both for the U.S. Coast Guard/

[Copyright 1997, PR Newswire]