Puerto Ricans Find Buried Drug Treasure

VEGA BAJA, Puerto Rico - The FBI is investigating residents of this coastal community after several unearthed millions of dollars believed hidden by drug traffickers and went on a buying binge, the U.S. attorney says.

U.S. attorney Daniel Lopez Romo said late yesterday that the money was believed to have been found in drums dug up two weeks ago in a farmer's field in Vega Baja, 35 miles northwest of San Juan.

Lopez said officials became suspicious after residents began buying luxury items with ``great sums'' of cash.

Authorities found one drum with $1.5 million still inside but others had been emptied, he said. Newspapers said 10 or 11 empty drums were found nearby.

Newspapers reported residents were snapping up new houses, boats, cars and VCRs. They said federal investigators descended on the town after a car mechanic paid $170,000 cash for a house and a sports car, and deposited $50,000 cash in a bank.

Lopez said the FBI interviewed several people and many local residents were returning goods bought with the found cash.

Many also weren't, he said.

El Vocero, the tabloid that broke the story, said the FBI had confiscated ``millions'' - mostly in $100 and $20 bills - from residents and from the drum recovered by agents.

Lopez said the location of the buried treasure couldn't be revealed because ``there would be a gold rush to the site.''

The U.S. attorney said it was a good bet the cash was drug money.

El Vocero quoted unidentified sources as saying the Puerto Rico Justice Department had estimated up to $20 million may have been buried. The FBI office in the capital of San Juan has refused to discuss the case.

Because the Caribbean island of Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth, its investigatory matters come under federal jurisdiction.

Under Puerto Rican law, anyone who finds treasure on private property is entitled to half, with the remainder going to the commonwealth.

But the FBI could invoke a federal law entitling the U.S. government to confiscate funds tied to the illegal drug trade to pay for the costs of the investigation.