Passengers Fume as QE2 Undergoes Drug Search

U.S. Customs officials in San Pedro searched the 69,000-ton Queen Elizabeth 2 from stem to stern today and made hundreds of fuming round-the-world cruise passengers wait for hours while discovering less than an ounce of marijuana.

The probe of the world’s third-largest cruise ship, in which two switch-blade knives and several sex magazines were also seized, is part of a new Customs policy, announced Jan. 14 by Commissioner William Von Rabb, to subject all vessels or airplanes coming from Colombia to intensive searches.

The QE2 docked in Cartagena, Colombia, on Jan. 19.

Customs spokesman Michael Fleming said the searches are intended as much to register unhappiness with the Dec. 30 release in Colombia of alleged narcotics kingpin Jorge Luis Ochoa, 38, as to interdict contraband. Customs officials had not received any tips that the ship was carrying illicit drugs, Fleming said.

The 765 disembarking passengers, many of whom had to catch planes at Los Angeles International Airport, began coming off the ship shortly after 8 a.m. and had to find their luggage, which was scattered in long rows at the cruise ship terminal.

“I can tell you, it was a very unhappy ship,� said Nina Gallo, who was trying to get to a plane back to Long Island. Her husband, Sullivan, said the idea is ill-conceived.

“Most of these people are retired and middle-aged. Do they look like drug dealers?� he said.

Fleming said unhappy passengers should register their complaints with the Colombian government.

The marijuana was found in a crew member’s locker, officials said. The crew member will not be arrested, they said, but can be disciplined or subjected to a civil fine of up to $150 by the ship’s captain.