22632: (Chamberlain) Haitian-Drugs (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   MIAMI, July 6 (AP) -- A former Haitian airport police commander was
accused in federal court Tuesday of helping to smuggle Colombian cocaine
into the United States.
   Prosecutors said Romaine Lestin took kickbacks to provide security for
drug flights passing through Haiti's Port-au-Prince airport on the way to
the United States.
   Lestin, 35, is the sixth Haitian official to face drug charges in the
United States since Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was ousted in
February. He could get up to 20 years in prison if convicted.
   He was arrested Thursday by police in the Dominican Republic and brought
to Miami.
   On Tuesday, he was ordered jailed until a bail hearing Friday. Lestin,
in shackles, did not comment during the hearing. He had not yet been
assigned an attorney.