ENN 9/11/96 19:17
Excerpted from ENN Daily Report
09/12/96 - 14:00CDT - Vol. 2, No. 256
Law Enforcement News Briefs
ENN 9/11/96 19:17
Philadelphia Officer Shot in Altercation With Suspect
PHILADELPHIA (ENN) - A Philadelphia Police officer was shot and wounded during a shootout with two suspects on
Wednesday afternoon. Philadelphia Police Commissioner Richard Neal said that Sergeant John Fleming, age 55, was shot
once in the shoulder after he attempted to stop a suspicious auto in Philadelphia's Roxborough section at about 1300 EDT.
The Commissioner said that a gun battle followed a vehicle pursuit that ended when the suspects car crashed into a pickup
truck. One of the offenders in the auto attempted to flee and was shot and wounded after trading shots with Sergeant
Fleming. The second suspect surrendered.
Sergeant Fleming was reported to be in good condition at an area hospital. The 23-year-old offender, who was wounded,
was said to be in serious condition. This was the second time that Fleming had been shot in his career.
ENN 9/12/96 07:38
Rioting in Mississippi Jail
NATCHEZ, MISSISSIPPI (ENN) - An uprising at the Adams County Jail was brought to an end when a 35-man
Mississippi Highway Patrol tactical unit used CS gas to subdue two dozen rioting inmates on Wednesday. Authorities said
no hostages were involved in the incident.
The jail houses about 140 inmates. Adams County Sheriff Tommy Ferrell said, "We were at maximum capacity and the
overcrowding, plus not having enough people to supervise that many inmates, led to the problem."
The Sheriff said that the inmates refused to return to their cells after lunch. They reportedly used metal tables and
mattresses to barricade themselves behind a door at one end of the second floor cell block. Deputies attempted to
negotiate a settlement to the standoff and later used high-pressure hoses and pepper gas to force the inmates to return to
their cells.
Sheriff Ferrell said that the inmates made a number of demands. Ferrell said, "Just typcial inmate complaint stuff." The
inmates wanted exercise equipment, telephones and television sets.
ORGANIZED CRIME NEWS -- DRUGS
ENN 9/11/96 14:49
New Generation of Drug Merchants
By Steve Macko, ENN Editor
BOGOTA (ENN) - Colombia's anti-narcotics chief Colonel Leonardo Gallego has said that a new generation of drug
traffickers is emerging in Colombia with the increasing production and export of heroin. Gallego recently said, "There are
indications of an emergent trend of new groups becoming involved in the heroin trade." He added that he did not rule out
"existing groups combining or switching the traffic of one substance with another."
New statistics that were released last week indicated that 62 percent of the heroin that is now showing up on U.S. streets
is now coming from South America, a good chunk of it from Colombia. What this now means is that Colombia, and to a
lesser extent Peru and Venezuela, are now replacing Southeast Asia as the major source of heroin. It is well known, of
course, that South America already dominates the cocaine market.
It is the opinion of Gallego that the new U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration estimates are too high. He, however,
agreed that there is an emerging pattern that is disconcerting. Gallego, who has been the head of the anti-narcotics division
of Colombia's National Police for the past two years, believes that Colombia produces about five tons of heroin a year.
Colombian anti-narcotics intelligence indicates that about 12,000 acres in Colombia are being used to grow opium
poppies. It is being grown in the traditional coffee growing regions in the provinces of Tolima, Huila and Cauca.
It is known that Pakistanis and Afghans have traveled to Colombia to teach processing techniques and cultivation.
A DEA report that was released last week said that the South American heroin that is being found on the streets in the
northeast portion of the United States is 30 percent more pure that the traditional Asian varieties.
U.S. drug experts say that even though members of the Cali drug cartel have been sent to jail, they are still running their
operations from behind bars. According to Gallego, there are signs that the Colombian cartels are diversifying their supply
routes away from the United States.
Unconfirmed intelligence reports are saying that cocaine is being transported from Colombia to Angola. It is then shipped
to Europe and the Far East.
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