US Soldiers 'smuggled' cocaine from Colombia

The soldiers were detained on Tuesday, said Lieutenant Colonel Eduardo Villavicencio, a spokesperson for the army's Miami-based Southern Command.

He would not disclose where the five were being held, saying only that they were in the United States.

"This is an ongoing criminal investigation," Villavicencio said, declining to release any other details.

"The Department of Defence is working closely with Colombian authorities and US law enforcement to conduct a thorough investigation," William Wood, the US ambassador to Colombia, said in a statement. "I congratulate our law enforcement agencies for their excellent cooperation in uncovering this drug smuggling scheme."

A US Embassy spokesperson also declined to provide additional information. Colombia's Defence Ministry confirmed an investigation was underway, but wouldn't discuss the case further.

The United States has provided more than $3bn in aid over the past four years to help Colombia battle Marxist rebels and drug trafficking that fuels the 40-year-old insurgency.

Up to 800 US troops are permitted in Colombia, according to US law, to train Colombian armed forces and to provide logistical support. Up to 600 Americans also are allowed in the country as US government contractors.

It was the second major scandal to hit the US military in Colombia.

In 1999, the wife of the former commander of US anti-drug operations in Colombia, Laurie Hiett, pleaded guilty to shipping $700 000 in cocaine and heroin to New York City in diplomatic parcels. She was sentenced to five years in prison.

Her husband, Colonel James C Hiett, later pleaded guilty to helping his wife launder $25 000 in illicit profits and was given a five-month prison term and a dishonourable discharge.

The case embarrassed the Pentagon at a time when former US President Bill Clinton was pitching the plan to back Colombian forces.

Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine and a major supplier of heroin to the United States.

http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1683748,00.html

Five U.S. Army soldiers are under investigation for allegedly using a military plane to smuggle 35 pounds of cocaine from Colombia to the United States, the U.S. Southern Command announced Thursday.

Little information was released about those detained Tuesday for allegedly taking part in the conspiracy. The soldiers' identities, hometowns and duties in Colombia were not released.

''Their name, sex and rank is not being released until we receive clearance,'' said Air Force Lt. Col. Eduardo Villavicencio, a spokesman for the command.

A Command spokesman, Air Force Lt. Col. Eduardo Villavicencio, would not say whether the five had been officially charged or whether they are officers or enlisted personnel. The soldiers had been under surveillance by U.S. and Colombian investigators for ''some time,'' a Colombian defense ministry spokeswoman told The Herald. Officials waited for the soldiers to attempt to enter the United States with the drugs before arresting them.

The United States has 500 soldiers in Colombia as part of a multibillion-dollar effort to aid counterdrug and counterinsurgency efforts. Many of these soldiers are special-forces personnel who train Colombian military personnel in antinarcotics warfare.

In 2000, Army Col. James Hiett, 48, who once commanded the U.S. military's antidrug operation in Colombia, was sentenced to five months in jail after admitting he knew his wife was laundering drug money.

Laurie Hiett pleaded guilty to drug conspiracy charges. She admitted that in 1999 she used U.S. Embassy mail to send cocaine and heroin with a street value of $750,000 to an accused drug dealer in Brooklyn.

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/11286645.htm

WASHINGTON, April 1, 2005 – Five American soldiers were detained March 29 for allegedly participating in a cocaine smuggling scheme, according to a U.S. Southern Command news release.

The soldiers “are under investigation for allegedly attempting to transport approximately 16 kilograms of cocaine aboard a U.S. military aircraft,” the release stated.

The servicemembers are in the United States and were detained as a result of investigations conducted in the U.S. and Colombia.

The American and Colombian governments are working together in investigating charges as part of the ongoing criminal investigation into the soldiers’ activities, the release said.

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Apr2005/20050401_424.html