HEROIN, METH SEIZURES SKYROCKET

Seizures of heroin and methamphetamine have sharply increased in the
El Paso area during the past year, data the U.S. Customs and Border
Protection released Friday indicates.

In fiscal 2003, which ended in September, officials seized 218 pounds
of heroin, compared with 15 pounds in fiscal 2002. Methamphetamine
seizures increased to 706 pounds in 2003 from 92 pounds the previous
year.

The data combine the seizures of Customs and Border Protection with
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or their equivalents in years
before those agencies were formed. Seizures of cocaine, marijuana and
currency seizures also increased over seizures last year.

The annual reports came on the heels of two large busts. Customs and
Border Protection officials seized more than 2,000 pounds of marijuana
near Lordsburg, N.M., and about 34 pounds of cocaine near Alamogordo
this week.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Roger Maier described the
discovery of more heroin and methamphetamine as the result of two
major developments -- increased enforcement along the Southwest U.S.
border and changes in smuggling trends.

In the past, "the vast majority of methamphetamine seizures were being
made in Southern California," Maier said. "Over time, that has shifted
eastward."

That shift and greater increase in methamphetamine seizures in the El
Paso area may be a result of growing demand in the United States for
the drug, which dealers and smugglers are recognizing as a means of
capitalization, he said.

"If there's a way to make money on a commodity, be it an illegal
commodity, someone is going to try to do it," Maier said.

Meanwhile, sophisticated organizations may be trying to move heroin
through the El Paso area in greater quantity, Maier said. He cited two
instances in September when officials arrested smugglers trying to
move large amounts of heroin across the international bridges.