TEEN CAUGHT SMUGGLING COCAINE

A 17-year-old boy from Juarez was caught trying to smuggle 114 pounds of
cocaine, worth over $5 million, on the Bridge of the Americas Tuesday
evening in a pickup, officials of the U.S. Customs Service said.

The seizure blows away the previous record for largest cocaine load -- 87.5
pounds on April 22, 1999 -- but also illustrates what officials say is a
sad trend: teenagers being used to smuggle drugs.

The boy, a juvenile by federal standards, was turned over to the county for
prosecution. El Paso County Sheriff's Department officials declined to
identify the boy because of a pending investigation.

He allegedly drove a 2002 Chevrolet with 47 cocaine-filled bundles in the
front wall of the truck's bed. A drug-sniffing dog alerted inspectors.

When customs officials started tracking the youth-smuggling phenomenon in
1997, 83 juveniles were arrested for drug smuggling in the El Paso area.
Last year, there were 162 -- 68 Mexicans, 93 U.S. residents and one Costa
Rican. Forty-four were girls.

"Smugglers prey upon the juvenile element, telling them nothing is going to
happen to them because it's their first time," customs spokesman Roger
Maier said. "And some juveniles are involved in recruiting other kids.
Parents need to be aware of that."

Sentences for juveniles are handed down by the county's Juvenile Probation
Department. They include probation, house arrest, boot camp or time at the
Texas Youth Commission -- juvenile prison. But officials said even harsher
"sentences" for being caught come from the drug cartels.

"If you get caught transporting drugs, the law is the least of your
problems," is the slogan of two grant-funded TV spots produced by the
county attorney's office this month. They are based on real stories, and
one shows a young smuggler who gets out on probation only to fall into the
hands of smugglers, who take him to the desert and shoot him.

The spots will air until Sept. 20 on local stations.

(SIDEBAR)

By the numbers

162 Juvenile smuggling arrests in area in '01

155 Juvenile smuggling arrests in area in '00

148 Juvenile smuggling arrests in area in '99

99 Juvenile smuggling arrests in area in '98

83 Juvenile smuggling arrests in area in '97