Posted on: Wednesday, November 14, 2001

Increased security leads to drug busts

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

Suspected drug users and dealers are suffering more than the usual inconvenience due to heightened security at Honolulu International Airport.

They're also getting busted.

The state Narcotics Enforcement Division has snared eight drug suspects since Oct. 28. One man arrested Saturday was hiding two small bags of cocaine in his jeans while trying to board a flight to Maui and set off an anthrax scare when the white powder was discovered, authorities said.

Since airport security tightened, one or two suspects are being caught each week compared with about one a month previously, said Ed Howard, the division's supervising investigator.

Justin L. Lawrence, 24, who was arrested Saturday, was charged yesterday with promoting a dangerous drug after he was caught with just under 53 grams of cocaine, which has a street value of about $5,300.

Lawrence, who lives in Lahaina, was arraigned yesterday in state District Court. Bail was set at $25,000, and he remains in custody at the O'ahu Community Correctional Center.

The division, part of the state's Department of Public Safety, also is pursuing cases against two individuals accused of smuggling "ice," or methamphetamine, through airport security, and five more for carrying marijuana, said division chief Keith Kamita.

Lawrence had passed through the security checkpoint at the interisland terminal en route to Gate 53, where he was to catch an evening flight to Kahului.

But additional security crews at the gate ran a detection wand over his body during random checks, and something metallic evidently sounded the alarm, Howard said.

A body search turned up the drug, which initially set off an anthrax scare, Howard said. Airport security cleared the gate until the white powder was identified as cocaine.