Eastern Europe's New Bad Guys

By Janice Castro

Just about every kind of entrepreneur has talked up the emerging opportunities in the new Eastern Europe, but now Colombia's powerful CALI DRUG CARTEL is exploring the possibilities. In October, Czechoslovak authorities seized 100 kg of cocaine hidden in a truckload of Colombian coffee. After the coffee was traced to a Polish ship that had stopped in Colombia, Polish police uncovered another 100 kg in the rest of the shipment, which was sitting in a Warsaw warehouse. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials speculate that the cartel hopes to take advantage of the legal chaos in the region to transship narcotics to West European customers. Last week FBI director William Sessions visited Warsaw to offer Polish officials help in modernizing their police system.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart