A Changed Market for Arms Smugglers

July 10 -- When Italian police burst through the door of Room 341 of the Milan-area Europa Hotel on Aug. 4, 2000, they found a startling scene of debauchery.

In the room was Ukrainian-born Israeli Leonid Minin — naked, his abundant, pasty flesh flanked by four naked prostitutes, along with enough cocaine to supply all of them.

In addition, police found $150,000 in cash and the equivalent of a half-million dollars in diamonds — as well as nearly 1,500 pages of documents detailing the activities that allowed Minin to enjoy this good life.

Today, Minin is in jail in northern Italy on charges of drug possession. In October, he is expected to stand trial for arms trafficking. He faces up to 12 years in prison.

Minin's lawyers say that their client is a simple timber merchant. But prosecutors say the papers found with Minin nearly two years ago show that he arranged the shipments of nearly 200 tons of small arms from his native Ukraine to war-torn West Africa.

Authorities allege Minin is only a small part of the vast world of the illegal arms trade involving billions of dollars and many of the bloodiest places on earth. It is also a world that is getting more attention after Sept. 11.

Harder to Sell …

While much attention has been given to keeping weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of terrorists, the increased efforts are also believed to be keeping the more mundane instruments of death out of the wrong hands.

Dean Boyd, spokesman for the U.S. Customs Service, said Sept. 11 had caused "dramatically increased enforcement efforts."

Customs initiated "Project Shield," intensifying its investigations into illegal exports — which has "generated a lot of leads and criminal investigations and helped set up investigative efforts," Boyd said.

Since December 2001, customs agents have visited nearly 3,000 U.S. firms, looking for leads and asking for cooperation in stifling the efforts of smugglers. Last year, customs agents made only 300 visits.