April 14, 2000 1:56 AM Reuters

SYDNEY, April 14 (Reuters) - A top Australian woman basketball player said on Friday she was under investigation after customs officials intercepted a package addressed to her which contained a banned performance-enhancing drug.

Annie La Fleur, a point guard with the Australian women's basketball team, told a news conference she had not taken drugs and that she was the innocent victim of a mix-up.

She said the drugs, which were confiscated by the customs service in February, were vitamins her husband bought for a friend in the United States and then sent back to Australia.

Customs officials inspected the package because it did not have the correct documentation. The vitamins were confiscated but they sent on the rest of the contents -- a walkman, Pokemon cards and underwear for her son -- with a letter to explain what had been done.

A customs spokesman said La Fleur was helping with the investigation but would not elaborate.

The letter stated that the vitamins contained the steroid dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), which is available over the counter in the United States but illegal in Australia, La Fleur said.

She added that she had never heard of DHEA, a substance which is on the International Olympic Committee's list of banned drugs.

Reading a prepared statement, La Fleur said she was innocent.

"I can't believe this is happening as I have done nothing wrong," she said.

"I've played 96 games for Australia and during my international career I have been drug tested on many occasions, including this year... I have never returned a positive test result."

Basketball Australia chief Scott Derwin said he accepted La Fleur's explanation. He had asked Australia's federal sports minister to speed up the customs investigation so La Fleur could compete in the Sydney Olympics without controversy, Derwin added.

"I can understand the public will look at this as another drugs in sport issue but it is not," he said. "Why would Annie at this point in time do anything as stupid as this?"

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