Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, February 23, 1991                   TAG: 9102230349
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

2 CHARGED WITH BRINGING DRUGS TO CITY

A grand jury sitting in U.S. District Court in Roanoke returned an indictment charging Jose Ignacio Henao and Jose De La Cruz Rivera with transporting about 100 kilograms of cocaine to Roanoke.

Henao, 31, is a native of Colombia who had been living in Miami. Rivera, 42, is a Panamanian who was living in Fort Lauderdale.

The indictment alleges that Rivera began transporting cocaine in 1983 from Florida to Roanoke, where local contacts would distribute the drug.

The local contacts were identified as co-conspirators, but were not indicted.

The indictment charges that on Jan. 23, Rivera and Henao agreed to bring five kilograms of cocaine to Roanoke. It alleges that the men - using fictitious names - flew on a commercial airline from Florida to Charlotte, N.C., where they met a drug courier.

Henao and Rivera rented a mini-van there and drove to the Roanoke area, the indictment alleges.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents arrested Rivera at a Salem motel last month. Rivera had three kilograms of cocaine - valued at $475,000 - with him. Agents arrested Henao a half-hour later at a motel across the street.

Both men were taken to Roanoke City Jail. Neither has been able to meet bond.