Drugs found on Chiquita ships;

Lax company security in Colombia

blamed for smuggling
Chiquita SECRETS Revealed
MIKE GALLAGHER & CAMERON McWHIRTER
Cincinnati Enquirer 3may1998

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Taking advantage of Chiquita's lax security system, Colombian drug lords are using the
company's ships to smuggle large amounts of cocaine into Europe.

Despite knowing of the problem, Chiquita's subsidiary officials have been reluctant to tighten
security and inspections at the company's Santa Marta, Colombia, shipping center where most of
the smuggling originates.

High-level Chiquita sources told the Enquirer that the company does not willingly or knowingly
ship the illegal drugs.

Asked about the drugs smuggled on Chiquita vessels, Chiquita through its attorneys, declined to
discuss "the specifics of its drug interdiction policies and procedures." Chiquita, however,
solicited a letter from the U.S. Customs Service attesting to its cooperation.

"Chiquita is a leader among commercial ocean carriers in cooperating with the U.S. Customs
Service regarding the prevention of drug smuggling on company operated vessels," the letter
said.

Drug enforcement agents and customs officials in Belgium and the United Kingdom found a
total of more than a ton of almost pure cocaine hidden in at least seven Chiquita ships in 1997,
according to European custom services and Chiquita sources.

The seized cocaine is worth up to $33 million in its pure form, and valued at more than $100
million if sold on the streets, according to Van Quarles of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in
Washington, D.C.

In internal communications, company officials cite sloppy security and ship-loading operations
by Chiquita employees in Colombia as the main reasons that smugglers can get the drugs on
board the ships.

The most recent drug seizure verified by the Enquirer was made in Belgium on the Chiquita
Bremen on Oct. 31. When the ship reached Europe more than 500 kilos of cocaine were
discovered in the insulation of a large container packed with boxes of fruit, according to Chiquita
and Belgium's custom service records.
The smugglers in Colombia had peeled back half of the interior wall of the container, removed
the foam insulation, replaced it with packets of cocaine, and then resealed the wall, according to
Belgian officials and Chiquita records.

Based on standard quantity - purity - price estimates of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency
(DEA) the cocaine found on the Bremen had value of up to $18 million in its pure form and
more than $50 million if sold on the streets.

In a written statement issued through its lawyers, Chiquita told the Enquirer that "the security
and smuggling concerns that Chiquita faces in Colombia are not unique to the company or even
the banana industry."

However, the drugs are being found on Chiquita ships sailing to Europe and not those of its
banana-shipping competitors, according to a Nov. 1 voice-mail message sent to John Ordman,
Chiquita's senior vice president for finance, from Dale Ploughman, a Chiquita executive in
Antwerp responsible for company ship transportation issues.

"(Let's) see if we can tighten things up in Colombia," Mr. Ploughman said. "It seems like drugs
that are coming into Europe are primarily on Chiquita vessels rather than on other people's
vessels. Let's put it this way: they have only been detected on Chiquita's vessels and not on other
people's vessels. But even so, it does seem that we have a high incidence of (drug) finds on our
vessels."

Spokesmen for the DEA, and customs agencies in Belgium and United Kingdom, confirmed that
sei-zures of illegal drugs there in 1997 were made on Chiquita ships and not on those of its
competitors, such as Del Monte, Dole or the Irish company Fyffes, that also ship fruit from
South and Central America.

U.S. Customs Service spokeswoman Erlinda Bird said a check of seizure records reveals no
drugs have been found on Chiquita vessels at U.S. ports during the past three years.

Ged Coleridge, a Chiquita official at the company's Belgium office, detailed the smuggling
problem to Mr. Ordman in a Nov. 1 voice-mail report.

"There's been about seven (drug) finds on our ships in the course of this past year which amounts
to a total of at least about a ton of cocaine," Mr. Coleridge said. "And Customs is telling me that
it is only the Chiquita ships. It's all ex-Santa Marta and it's only Chiquita ships."

In his report, Mr. Coleridge then tells Mr. Ordman about another large cocaine shipment found
on the Chiquita Bremen after it arrived in England.

"(Belgium Custom agents) picked up a Frenchman wandering around the port," Mr. Coleridge
said in the voice-mail. "He had a container number in his pocket on a piece of paper in his
pocket. They located this container. It also had been sent to England and they advised the
Customs in England and, lo and behold, they found 21 kilos (of cocaine) in that container."
Criticizing Chiquita's security and fruit-loading operations in Colombia, and comparing it to
Dole, Mr. Coleridge recommended increasing security at the company's Colombian facility.
"Look at the installation that Dole has in Santa Marta versus the Chiquita operation in Santa
Marta for containers ... Dole is a very well run and orchestrated operation where ours ... is
somewhat of a mismatch," he said in the voice-mail. "So whether or not that is something to
think about, I don't know. It's food for thought."

However, Mr. Coleridge said that company officials in Colombia didn't want to make extra
security checks.

"(Chiquita Colombia officials) seemed to think at that stage it might be a little bit too dangerous
for our chaps to be doing that," Mr. Coleridge said. "(They said they) check them when they
arrive here (Belgium)."

A Chiquita lawyer, who requested anonymity, said he believed that "if it became well-known
that we have this problem, it could result in tighter scrutiny of our ships by foreign law
enforcement officials, which could cost us time, money and customers. We compete in a global
market with a perishable product that has to get to market quickly, or our competitors take our
customers. It's that simple."

Ship route of Chiquita Bremen

Drug lords hid cocaine in banana containers aboard Chiquita Bremen in Santa Marta, Colombia,
which then sailed to Antwerp and the United Kingdom where drug finds where made in each
port.

(Copyright 1998)