WORLD'S BIGGEST DOPE STASH GOES UP IN SMOKE

CUBATAO, Brazil, June 26 (Reuters) - Brazil on Tuesday incinerated what it
claims is the biggest batch of dope ever torched, vying for a place in the
Guinness Book of Records and highlighting its drug fight on its national
anti-drug day.

Guarded by 300 police agents in 25 vehicles and helicopters buzzing
overhead, a convoy of seven trucks carried the stash 652 miles (1050
kilometers) from Brazil's southwestern state of Mato Grosso do Sul to Sao
Paulo state for destruction.

A string of boxes containing sealed packages of 140 tons of seized
marijuana, ******* and hashish were winched above a furnace raging at about
1500 degrees Celsius (2732 Fahrenheit) and dropped inside, federal police said.

"The drugs that are being burned here today will not reach their perverse
end of degrading our youth and encouraging crime," Justice Minister Jose
Gregori said at the ceremonial burning, watched by scores of TV cameras and
reporters.

Alongside, a federal police band played the theme song to U.S. TV cop
series "S.W.A.T." as the parcels of white powder, cannabis flowers and
resin met their fiery end. The scent of marijuana filled the air above the
industrial town of Cubatao as 120 tons of cannabis went up in smoke.

Brazil timed the high-profile incineration to coincide with its National
Anti-Drugs Day, drawing the spotlight to its battle against the scourge of
drug trafficking and consumption. Police in other cities also burned drug
hauls, albeit on a much smaller scale.

Authorities are now hoping the ceremony will earn Brazil a place in the
Guinness Book of Records for the biggest batch of drugs ever destroyed.

Federal police chose Cubatao for the burning since only its vast steel
plant had the capacity to accommodate the hefty drug haul, seized over the
past 12 months. The incineration was expected to take 15 hours, police said.

Cubatao was a fitting site for the display. Its skyline of tall
smoke-belching chimneys has prompted many visitors to liken the city to
something out of a science-fiction movie.

Police had planned to play to the cameras and drop the drug parcels off a
conveyor belt into a mobile furnace but they moved the burning to a
stationary furnace after the drugs repeatedly fell off the conveyor belt.


Newshawk: ZuniZoni
Pubdate: Tue, 26 Jun 2001
Source: Reuters (Wire)
Copyright: 2001 Reuters Limited
Author: Paulo Whitaker