Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 22, 1995 TAG: 9504240024
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
The teams are part of a focused effort to interdict drugs and drug smugglers in Virginia, said Lt. Col. Basil R. Belsches, deputy superintendent of state police.
``We hope our effort will have a deterrent effect,'' Belsches said Thursday. ``When word gets out that Virginia is concentrating heavily on interdicting drugs, maybe smugglers will go someplace else and avoid coming through Virginia.''
Two of the teams, one based in Salem and one in Richmond, are made up of a sergeant, a special agent of the state police Bureau of Criminal Investigation, and two troopers, one with a drug-sniffing dog.
The other team, consisting of a special agent and two troopers, monitors suspicious activity at Virginia's airports, bus terminals, train stations and seaports.
On March 13, the first day of the teams' deployment, one team seized 442 pounds of cocaine from a vehicle stopped on Interstate 81 in Rockbridge County, eight miles south of Lexington.
The 85 percent to 90 percent pure cocaine, once cut for distribution, would have a street value as high as $20 million, state police officials estimated.
In Hanover County, a suspected smuggler stopped by a team turned out to be wanted for murder in New York, state police said.
A team also arrested an Orlando, Fla., man as he was getting off an airplane at Richmond International Airport. The police seized 500 grams of crack cocaine having a street value of $50,000, police said.
Belsches said state police are alert for drugs on all highways, not just the interstates they generally patrol.
``All of our troopers are trained to be alert for drugs after they stop any vehicle for speeding or some other violation,'' he said.
by CNB