Robert J. Penland was working undercover, negotiating to buy a ton of raw opium in a remote Pakistani farming village, when he got a sinking feeling.
He was on his own.
Armed guards were posted on rooftops of the village huts, and Mr. Penland, a Drug Enforcement Administration agent, could quickly become their target. His backup protection was 10 miles away.
"I was all by myself, on my own wits," he said recently, recalling a sting operation that eventually netted a large cache of opium, the basic ingredient for heroin.
Sixteen years later, he's no longer alone. But he's still using his wits, battling dealers and suppliers from Baltimore, one of the deadly drug's frequent destinations.
Last week, Mr. Penland, 54, replaced Craig N. Chretien as head of the DEA's Baltimore district office. Mr. Chretien left to take command of the agency's San Diego division.
As a regional official in the DEA, which investigates the upper levels of narcotics production and distribution, Mr. Penland said, his goals include attacking the heroin trade and cracking down on illegal traffic in prescription drugs.
"I'm particularly concerned, having come from a city -- Los Angeles area -- where heroin addiction, abuse and related criminal activity has such a debilitating affect on the community," he said. "I want to make a special effort to focus on the heroin trafficking and distribution in Baltimore."
In what he calls the most challenging assignment of his career, Mr. Penland oversees more than 60 DEA agents and local police officers. The Baltimore district covers all of Maryland.
Mr. Penland joined the newly formed DEA in 1973, after 12 years with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. His stint in Pakistan, from 1975 to 1978, was his only overseas assignment. Most recently, he worked in the agency's Washington headquarters, planning domestic strategy.
Sitting recently in a Columbia restaurant where he and Mr. Chretien had just met with Howard County Police Chief James N. Robey, Mr. Penland looked more like the soccer-coaching father of four he is than the heroin kingpin he once pretended to be. He smiles easily and often.
Despite the agency's focus on the supply side of the drug trade, Mr. Penland and Mr. Chretien agree that the key to snuffing out the problem lies with eliminating demand for drugs.
Mr. Penland wants to take his message of communication and education straight to young people. "I'll volunteer any time. . . . I enjoy talking to people about this problem."
And his message is honed sharp. "To kids in school, I tell them they've got to communicate with their parents; they've got to be educated. Don't become a guinea pig. Don't experiment with drugs because you don't know where they come from."
Mr. Chretien said stronger families are essential.
He came to that conclusion in the 1960s, while counseling drug addicts as part of his studies to become a Catholic priest, he said. The switch to law enforcement made sense to him, he said.
"Most priests don't carry guns," but the work of both drug enforcement and pastoring is "person-to-person," he said.
With his promotion to San Diego, Mr. Chretien is returning to the city where he conducted his first undercover drug deal in 1972. As head of one of the agency's medium-sized divisions, he will oversee more than 200 agents and local police in a jurisdiction that includes the Mexican border, a major crossing point for drugs.
Mr. Chretien said fostering cooperation between the DEA and local law enforcement agencies was one of his accomplishments in Baltimore. Since taking over the local office in 1992, Mr. Chretien helped shape a task force of DEA agents, city, county and state police to investigate drug organizations responsible for killings in the area.