15997: Craig-Article: Alleged Drug Lord Expelled From Haiti (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Dan Craig <hoosier@att.net>


Alleged Drug Lord Expelled From Haiti
June 21, 2003
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 3:26 p.m. ET

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) -- For six years, Jacques
Beaudoin Ketant lived the good life in Haiti, buying fancy
cars, a mansion and a highbrow education for his children
-- out of reach of U.S. authorities seeking him for
allegedly heading a cocaine network.

But his sojourn out of U.S. reach ended last week --
abruptly interrupted by a recent brawl at his son's elite
private school.

Ketant was expelled to the United States, where he was
arrested on charges dating back to a 1997 indictment.

"He's a significant trafficker," Matt Dates, a special
counsel for public affairs at the U.S. Attorney's office in
Miami, said Friday.

In the five-count indictment for money laundering and drug
smuggling, U.S. law enforcement agents described an
expansive network in which Ketant arranged for drug
couriers to transport cocaine from Central and South
America to the United States, sometimes using Haiti as a
transshipment point.

After setting up part of the operation in Miami, Ketant
left in disguise in 1996 for his home country, Haiti, the
indictment said.

Here he has lived since, flaunting his wealth in a massive
hilltop mansion protected by security cameras that
overlooks Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince. He was regularly
seen driving his black Hummer and Mercedes all-terrain
vehicles.

The public appearances remained steady even after his face
flashed across U.S. television screens in 2001 during a
segment on America's Most Wanted.

Last year, Ketant, now 40, helped build a carnival
grandstand in front of the presidential National Palace and
took part in the festivities.

It's unclear why, given his ostentatious lifestyle,
officials did not capture him before. Both Dates and U.S.
Drug Enforcement Agency spokesman Joe Kilmer in Miami
declined to comment.

Relations between the United States and Haiti have been
turbulent since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party
swept 2000 legislative elections that observers said were
flawed.

Since then, some U.S. legislators have accused senior
Haitian government officials and police officers of
involvement in drug trafficking.

Haiti's police force began closing in on Ketant this year,
killing his brother during a drug raid. But it wasn't until
the brawl last month at the Union School -- attended by
Ketant's son and nephew -- that Haitian authorities moved
quickly to hand him over to the United States.

The school's students include the children of government
ministers and U.S. and other diplomats.

At a school party, Ketant's nephew was angered when a girl
who rejected his advances, so he allegedly beat up a rival
boy and shoved him in the trunk of a car, a parent said,
speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

A security guard stopped the nephew at the school gate.
Police freed the beaten boy and wanted to arrest his
assailant, the parent said.

In no time, Ketant arrived with a throng of armed police,
who forced their fellow officers to free the nephew, the
parent said.

The principal, who has refused all comment, expelled the
nephew along with Ketant's son and daughter, the parent
said. Ketant again showed up at the school and threatened
the principal, who then called the U.S. Embassy for help.

"In view of the perceived breakdown of security, the U.S.
Embassy quickly offered the school a couple of our local
security guards for a few days," said embassy spokeswoman
Judith Trunzo.

Haitian authorities then ordered Ketant's expulsion, Dates
said. A diplomat in Haiti said Haitian police detained
Ketant and put him on a chartered plane to Miami, where
U.S. authorities took him into custody Tuesday evening.

It was not clear if there was a connection between the
brawl and the expulsion. The government didn't give a
reason, but said the expulsion "showed Haiti was prepared
to help in the fight against drug traffickers."

"We had arrest warrants on Ketant before the (school)
incident," Trunzo said.

If convicted, Ketant faces more than 20 years in prison.
Trunzo said there has been no letup in the flow of drugs
through Haiti. Some 8 percent of cocaine and 15 percent of
all drugs transported to the United States last year came
through Haiti, she said.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/international/AP-Haiti-Drug-Lord.html?ex=1057304945&ei=1&en=a2132949edce59da
Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company