POT SMUGGLERS EXPLOITING STATE'S VULNERABLE BORDER

Arizona is now a gateway for much of the marijuana coming into the
United States.

Smugglers have pinpointed the state's border as a place where they can
bring vast quantities of the drug through with relative ease.

"They're not dummies," said Sgt. Ernie Renfro of the state Department
of Public Safety. "They know the weaknesses in our border better than
we do, and they're exploiting that."

More than 86 percent of marijuana brought into the country comes
through the Southwestern border region that stretches from California
to Texas, and officials say Arizona has become the No. 2 spot in the
country for marijuana trafficking. The only place where more marijuana
is smuggled in is southern Texas, according to the U.S. Bureau of
Customs and Border Protection.

The dope is driven up Interstate 10 to stash houses in Phoenix, where
it is repackaged and distributed across the country. As a result,
police are increasingly finding larger and larger stashes of marijuana
in neighborhoods across the Valley.

In any neighborhood

This week, Phoenix police seized more than 4,000 pounds of marijuana
in a home in an upscale historic district next to Encanto Park. The
pot was stacked throughout a well-maintained brick home with a
perfectly manicured front lawn in a neighborhood where home prices
easily reach $300,000.

Oscar Lyon, 85, who lives in the neighborhood, said he never suspected
the home was a stash house.

"I didn't think anyone lived there," said Lyon, a retired civil
engineer. "It's shocking. It's two houses from where I live. I'm not
concerned about safety, but that kind of activity could have a lot
different ending."

Earlier this year, nearly a ton of marijuana was found in an Avondale
home, and more than 5,000 pounds of it was discovered in west Phoenix.

Renfro said the DPS seizes marijuana on a weekly basis from the all
parts of the Valley. In fiscal 2003, the agency seized 91,831 pounds,
a 32 percent increase from the previous year.

Phoenix police seized about 25,000 pounds last year.

"We're seeing it everywhere," Renfro said. "It doesn't matter where
you're at. You're not immune to having a stash house."

Majority gets through

Although seizures and arrests mean officers are keeping some drugs off
the streets, law enforcement is aware that far more drugs get through
than get stopped.

Despite a massive push by the Department of Homeland Security to
control Arizona's 350-mile border with Mexico, illegal immigration is
reaching levels not seen since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks
and the flow of marijuana also is spiking.

Marijuana seizures along the Southwestern border increased more than
45 percent from fiscal 1998 to fiscal 2002, according to the Bureau of
Customs and Border Protection.

In the Tucson sector, marijuana seizures this year are on pace to
surpass last year's record.

Through Wednesday, federal agents had seized 287,632 pounds in the
Tucson sector, up 22 percent from last year at this time, said Rob
Daniels, spokesman for the bureau in Tucson.

"What we continue to see is every time that we respond in a certain
way to trafficking in a given area, the smugglers will attempt to
relocate their efforts to another area," Daniels said.

Renfro estimates that for every load that is interdicted, five get
through.

Cheap, easy in Arizona

Marijuana is big business in Arizona.

The pot is cheap and easy to get and is more popular than drugs such
as cocaine and heroin, perhaps because it is seen as a lesser drug.

A pound of marijuana sells for about $500 in Phoenix. Dealers, who
come here from across the country to buy it, can sell it for three
times that much on the East Coast.

"Do I expect to see more of this? Yeah, I do," said Phoenix police
Cmdr. Joe Klima, who oversees the city's drug enforcement bureau.
"You're going to see it keep coming until we tighten up the borders."

Federal agents say they want to make it as difficult as possible for
drug traffickers to do business in Arizona.

In March, a major operation, the "Arizona Border Control Initiative,"
launched, and reinforcements are on the way: By June, there will be
more than 2,000 agents, four helicopters and two unmanned aircraft
patrolling the state's border.

'Do the best you can'

Russell Ahr, a spokesman for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said
the efforts are necessary even if trafficking is never completely stopped.

"I don't think we're going to stop people from killing each other, but
that doesn't mean you stop arresting them for murder," Ahr said. "You
do the best that you can."

Said Daniels: "Without any doubt, anytime we're able to make a
significant seizure, whether it's in Phoenix or in Tucson or along the
border, we're keeping that much narcotics off the streets and out of our
neighborhoods."

Reporter Quynh Tran contributed to this article.