DATE: Friday, September 26, 1997            TAG: 9709260765

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B9   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY LYNN WALTZ, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   38 lines

AFTER 6 YEARS ON THE RUN, MAN PLEADS GUILTY IN SMUGGLING CASE

An international drug smuggler, who was recently returned to Virginia from his Greek hideout, pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court to distributing tons of marijuana throughout Virginia and along the East Coast.

Mark Howard Miller, 52, had been a fugitive in Greece and Switzerland for nearly six years. He fled the United States after being indicted in a marijuana distribution scheme in which sailboats, oyster boats and motorboats were used to smuggle drugs through Urbanna, Va.

Miller was extradited after Greek authorities arrested him on a minor drug charge and U.S. authorities realized he was wanted.

``This guy's a big fish,'' said Robert Gattison, head of the local U.S. Customs office, who directed the investigation. ``We've been chasing this guy for six years. . . . He's been living the high life.''

Miller's indictment calls for the forfeiture of $7 million in drug proceeds, though Gattison doubted the final figure would be that high. Gattison said Miller had lived a life of luxury while on the lam, with a reputation for wealth so great he carried rubies in his pocket.

Gattison said Miller was responsible for at least 12 loads of marijuana, each weighing about 61,000 pounds. Each shipment brought a profit of about $2.5 million.

Miller smuggled the marijuana from from Colombia through the French West Indies between 1985 and 1989. Trawlers or large motor boats were used to transport the drugs out of Colombia to the West Indies. There it would be transferred to large sailing vessels. The sailing vessels, each carrying about 5,000 pounds of marijuana, would sail up the Rappahannock River to Urbanna. There, the shipments were unloaded at night onto trucks and stored on nearby farms.

Miller will be sentenced Dec. 22, according to federal prosecutor Robert E. Bradenham II. KEYWORDS: DRUG SMUGGLING

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