The Nation - News from Feb. 2, 1987

The U.S. Customs Service levied fines of $2.5 million against a Colombian airline and $640,000 against an Ecuadoran carrier after inspectors seized boxes of cocaine hidden aboard their jets, officials said. Cliff Stallings, a Customs Service spokesman in Miami, said 160 pounds of cocaine was found Saturday at Miami International Airport on an Arca Airlines jet from Bogota, Colombia. The cocaine is worth about $16 million in street sales, Stallings said. Later in the day, customs agents at Miami airport seized 40 pounds of cocaine, with a street value of about $4 million, hidden in an Ecuatoriana Airlines cargo plane, officials said. Both airlines were fined $16,000 per pound of cocaine confiscated.