Using a realistic quantitative model of the magnetospheric magnetic field, corresponding to conditions, the drift shells and rates of loss of high energy particles, owing to pitch-angle scattering of particles crossing the equatorial current sheet on the night side, are calculated. Data from numerical calculations of the magnitude of the angular scattering as a function of the ratio R//c/ rho are presented. For R//c/ rho approximately less than 10 the scattering amplitude for a single intersection of the sheet increases sharply, particles fill the cone of ionospheric losses and are scattered into the cone of drift losses. Losses in the external closed drift shells have characteristic time approximately 1 h for high energy electrons and much longer for protons.