Infants used in drug smuggling

CHICAGO, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Thirty-five people were indicted Friday in an alleged drug smuggling ring in which parents rented out their infants to couriers, U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said.

The drugs were smuggled in cans of baby formula.

"This is a new low in drug smuggling in and out of the United States -- using infants as cover," Fitzgerald told a news conference.

The indictments allege the parents were paid in cash or drugs for loaning out their babies.

"To me, being a parent, using a child for drug smuggling is about the most despicable thing you can do," said Elissa A. Brown, special agent-in-charge for the U.S. Customs Service in Chicago.

The 35 suspects face charges of importing and exporting narcotics, including cocaine and heroin. The indictment says 23 kilograms of cocaine and 4 kilograms of heroin were seized.

The indictments cover 51 drug smuggling trips from Panama and Jamaica to Chicago and New York between 1996 and 1999. Some of the drugs also were transported to London and Birmingham, England. Twenty infants were used for cover.

"This was an elaborate drug-smuggling operation that preyed on the great respect that we as human beings all afford mothers and babies -- and betrayed that respect brazenly," Fitzgerald said. "One baby, who made six trips with four different couriers, was rented by its parents for the first time when she was only 3 weeks old.

"Renting babies for the purpose of allowing drug dealers to smuggle cocaine and heroin is truly a new low."

The baby formula cans allegedly were emptied of their contents and then refilled with liquefied heroin and cocaine. A single 16-ounce formula can refilled with liquefied cocaine is worth as much as $700,000, authorities said.

Investigators said they first found out about the drug smuggling ring two years ago after a mother reported her infant missing to police. The mother had given her baby to a babysitter but became concerned after the child hadn't been returned for a week. The baby and babysitter were found in custody in Atlanta where the sitter had been arrested for smuggling.

The charges alleged in the indictments carry penalties ranging from five or 10 years in prison to 40 years to life, and fines ranging as high as $4 million.