The Nation : Ecuadorean Jetliner Seized in Drug Case

U.S. agents seized an Ecuadorean jetliner at Kennedy International Airport in New York and charged one crewman with smuggling cocaine in a suitcase with false sides, officials said. A routine Customs Service check turned up 13.7 pounds of the drug in a bag belonging to Edwin Patricia Aguirre, 28, an attendant on the flight from Quito, Ed Hotchkiss, chief of Customs’ Contraband Enforcement Team at the airport, said. He said that Aguirre, an Ecuadorean national, was arrested and the DC-10 was seized as part of the U.S. “zero tolerance” drug enforcement policy, which holds carriers responsible for the actions of crew members. He said Ecuatoriana Airlines, a state-owned carrier, could be fined up to $220,000 and lose the plane, valued at about $25 million.