"Airline security official accused of smuggling cocaine into U.S."

Friday, October 15, 2004

Airline security official accused of smuggling cocaine into U.S.
BY ANN W. O'NEILL
The South Florida Sun-Sentinel


MIAMI -- Federal authorities charged Friday that an American Airlines
security director used her position at the Port-au-Prince airport to help
Haitian smugglers fly millions of dollars worth of cocaine into the United
States.

Stephanie Ambroise, 26, is the latest Haitian arrested in the U.S. probe
into the corrupting influence of the cocaine trade that flourished under
former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The investigation already has
resulted in charges against a former Haitian senator and several top police
officials.

According to court records, Ambroise pocketed $2,000 for every 100 kilos -
220 pounds - of cocaine she let slip through airport security and onto
U.S.-bound commercial flights. An American Airlines spokeswoman had no
comment.

Agents arrested Ambroise at Miami International Airport on Thursday as she
prepared to board a flight home to Port-au-Prince, DEA spokesman Joe Kilmer
said.

Ambroise appeared Friday before U.S. Magistrate Barry Garber to answer a
criminal complaint accusing her of conspiring to import cocaine into the
United States. A hearing to determine whether she should remain behind bars
is scheduled Tuesday.

According to an affidavit supporting the arrest, Ambroise controlled all the
cocaine that left Haiti on board American Airlines flights bound for Miami
and New York.

Beginning in 2000, she allegedly worked closely with a trafficker,
identified as Serge Edouard, sending two to three loads each month. She also
allegedly facilitated shipments for other traffickers.

Under the system devised by Ambroise and the drug smugglers, suitcases
packed with cocaine were delivered to Ambroise's husband the night before an
American Airlines flight was scheduled to depart.

She attached numbered shipping tags on them, according to the affidavit by
DEA agent Dawn Molkenbur. Ambroise gave an airport worker the tag numbers,
and he loaded the bags onto the flights.

The affidavit revealed that four cooperating cocaine traffickers and a
former police official implicated Ambroise. The informants also have
provided information that helped build cases against several of Aristide's
key political and police leaders.

According to the affidavit, one trafficker identified Ambroise as part of
his organization, along with former Port-au-Prince airport commander Romaine
Lestin and former Haitian anti-drug chief Evintz Brillant. A Miami grand
jury has indicted both former officials on cocaine-conspiracy counts.

The trafficker also linked Ambroise to 285 kilos of cocaine seized after an
American Airlines flight landed at Miami International Airport in December
2002.

Besides Lestin and Brillant, former Haitian National Police director Jean
Nesly Lucien and former commander Rudy Therassan are awaiting trial on the
indictment.

Others in custody include former palace police chief Oriel Jean and former
Haitian Sen. Jean-Marie Fourel Celestin, former leader of Aristide's ruling
Lavalas party.

U.S. authorities in Miami have arrested nearly a dozen Haitian smugglers and
public officials since Aristide left the impoverished island nation in
February, amid political tumult.


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