POT SEIZURES HIGHEST IN THE LAREDO SECTOR

LAREDO - The Border Patrol is seizing more marijuana along the 171-mile
Laredo Sector than anywhere else on the U.S.-Mexico border, as drug
smugglers shift their focus to Texas from Western states, officials said
Tuesday. Officials speculated the change might be the result of beefed-up
enforcement at other ports of entry.

"Perhaps the special operations have been successful in forcing these
organizations to look at other areas where they can smuggle in their
drugs," said Alfonso Moreno, the Border Patrol's Laredo agent in charge.

Since the 2003 fiscal year began Oct. 1, the Border Patrol has confiscated
78,435 pounds of marijuana, a 53 percent increase over the 51,265 pounds
seized in the same period last year.

The Laredo Sector stretches from the northwest corner of Webb County to the
southeast corner of Zapata County.

Border Patrol statistics do not include seizures made by other federal
agencies, such as the Customs Service, which reported Tuesday it
confiscated 6,428 pounds of marijuana in a single seizure at Laredo's World
Trade Bridge.