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

DATE: SUNDAY, January 31, 1993                   TAG: 9301310078
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: E5   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Short

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NORFOLK-BASED SAILORS ARRESTED IN SMUGGLING

Four sailors from two Norfolk-based ships have been arrested in New York on federal drug-smuggling charges, a Naval Investigative Service agent said.

The sailors allegedly were paid $3,000 each to fly by commercial airlines to Bogota, Colombia, and swallow balloons filled with heroin before their return, said NIS Special Agent Glenn W. Roessler, head of the narcotics division in Norfolk.

"We've had them try to bring narcotics in suitcases and other things, but this is the first we've heard involving balloon swallowers," Roessler said.

The arrests occurred Jan. 9 and Jan. 10 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, where agents with the U.S. Customs Service, the DEA and NIS recovered 3.3 pounds of heroin from the sailors' stomachs, all of which contained in excess of 140 balloons.

The heroin had a street value of about $250,000, officials said. - Associated Press

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Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.

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