POST-TERROR AIR SECURITY DRIVES DRUGS ONTO HIGHWAYS

4th-Largest Bust In U.S. History - 10,000 Pounds Of Pot - Foretells Busy
Summer For Ozarks Drug Officers

The driver knew he was busted.

Phelps County sheriff's deputies buzzed around the tractor-trailer he'd
been driving. A drug dog showed intense interest in the stacks of metal
boxes in the cargo area.

The 28-year-old confessed: "There's 1,000 pounds of marijuana in there."
The deputies soon corrected the Illinois man's math - he was hauling 10
times that amount.

Stuffed into the 16 boxes seized on the Interstate 44 corridor was nearly
five tons of Mexican marijuana, wrapped in bundles of clear plastic. It was
the state's largest seizure ever - the fourth-largest in U.S. history.

The record-setting bust was the eighth load snagged by Phelps County
officers off I-44 in less than three weeks, shattering the once bankable
notion that summer months are slow for drug interdictions. But, in the
first summer since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, everything is different -
even along the secret tributaries of the drug trade.

Tightened security at airports has pushed narcotics usually transported by
plane onto the roadways. Narcotics officers who work the drug pipelines
that snake from Texas out east, typically diverted from the highways in the
summer for other drug duties, are now staying put, anticipating weeks of
more stops, more busts and more drugs.

"People are afraid to fly," said Sgt. Dan Banasik of the Missouri Highway
Patrol. "Some would smuggle pills or cocaine, you can 'body carry' that
easy. And used to be they could put it in their suitcases and no one ever
checked. They'll fly down to get the drugs but they won't fly back."

Add to that: I-40 through Oklahoma is shut down because a barge slammed
into a bridge in May. That spells a busy I-44 through Missouri. Drug
seizures are also up along I-20 and I-10 in Mississippi and along
interstates in Iowa, Nebraska and Arkansas.

According to numbers released by the Missouri Highway Patrol's Troop D
office, which includes the Springfield area, seizures are up. For the first
half of 2002, troopers seized 40 loads compared to 35 for the same period
last year.

And the loads are bigger, they say. Officers seized 10,104 pounds of
marijuana this year compared to only 2,000 pounds last year. They
confiscated 500 pounds of cocaine during the first half of 2002 compared to
98 pounds during the same period last year.

Change could be on the horizon, though - also sparked by post-terror
homeland defense strategies. Tighter immigration patrols have made life
tougher for smugglers along the Texas border, forcing some to change their
routes. Many smugglers are choosing to bypass the Midwest, bringing their
drugs over by boat into Miami, then trucking them up through Louisville.

Officers with the Transportation Department in Louisville reported more
seizures than normal these past few months - but not a big enough increase
to indicate that all trafficking has moved east.

"We could start seeing less drugs coming through the Midwest, coming
through Missouri. ... Louisville could begin to see more loads," said
Shirley Armstead, spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Administration out
of St. Louis. "They are now doing a more thorough job of checking loads
coming through Texas. ... They have more guards at the border."

But, for the moment, the drug trade is still busily pumping along
Missouri's highways.

"Normally, you can count on a slowdown in the summer," said Sgt. Mike
Cooper, who supervises interdiction officers with the Missouri Highway
Patrol and narcotics officer with COMET. "It just hasn't happened yet."

Three Sundays ago, Phelps County deputies shut down their checkpoint after
just two hours. By then, deputies already were processing two loads of
marijuana, which included that mammoth haul - just under 10,000 pounds -
that still has narcotics officers across the nation talking.

"It was one heck of a morning," said Sheriff Don Blankenship.

Fear, then anger

The driver gave himself away by turning around.

He was going back for gas, he told Deputy Dave Rightnower. But the logbook
showed he'd just made a stop a few miles back. Plus the truck had plenty of
fuel, enough that deputies would later drive it to Chicago without needing
to fill up.

Outside the truck, the man acted nervous - "His hands were shaking,"
Rightnower said - but deputies don't believe the driver was lying when he
told them he was only carrying 1,000 pounds.

"They had paid him by the pound," Rightnower said.

When the driver realized he was ripped off, that he was really carrying
9,668 pounds, he got angry.

"And he was willing to do something about it."

Four Phelps County officials, including the sheriff, went on to Chicago to
deliver the load. It's a part of the bust that authorities don't often get
to do because drivers won't cooperate.

When that occurs, authorities feel they aren't able to make an impact
because the real players aren't caught. This time though, nine people were
arrested in the Chicago area for drug trafficking.

"This one turned out real well," Blankenship said.

Border crackdown

Though amazed by a cache of marijuana weighing as much as a dump truck,
many were surprised so much could make it into the country.

In the months since Sept. 11, security at the Texas borders has been
emphasized.

More guards have been added to the Border Patrol and more INS agents are on
duty. X-ray machines have been set up to scrutinize loads and officers with
the Texas Department of Safety are working overtime.

In the first few months following the terrorist attacks, border patrol
agents saw a decrease in drug seizures. Some speculate that's because
smugglers shied away knowing that security had increased.

Alfonso Moreno, patrol agent in charge of intelligence for the Border
Patrol in Texas, said seizures are down 4 percent this year. From Oct. 1 to
May 31 they had 730 seizures at the border compared to 761 the year before.

"For awhile we saw a change, it was much slower," Moreno said. "But the
criminal element is going to hold out and see if they can wait you out.
They are going to have to get their drugs out some way."

Through the months, the numbers have see-sawed. In March, seizures were up
36 percent compared to last year. Other months have been way down.

With 1,200 miles of the 1,900-mile U.S.-Mexican border fronting Texas, the
Lone Star State's officials say checkpoints are vital.

And Armstead estimates a checkpoint at the border is worth three along the
pipeline.

That's why in Texas communities like Laredo, a tighter line has been drawn,
said Laredo Mayor Betty Flores - even before Sept. 11.

She and other city leaders have asked for more agents and more equipment
and a stronger set of procedures in the months before the terrorist
attacks. Now they have much of what they need.

"Now we have better searches, more precise searches. ... They're not just
searching everybody," Flores said in a telephone interview from her Texas
office.

"If they stop 10 cars now, 2 or 3 percent of the time they are going to
find something because they have information on that vehicle."

Times used to be much different, she said.

"Every agent that came to Laredo was Rambo waiting to do something," the
mayor said. "It was terrible. ... We have good, experienced agents
searching now."

'A ripple effect'

Missouri officers know that security at the borders is more intense. So it
seems only logical that some drug traffickers would change their route.

But they also know that many haven't. They have too much money and contacts
invested to move from I-40 or I-44 in the Midwest.

"I think drugs are still out there being run - it's evident by the Phelps
County stop," said Cpl. Dan Bracker, Missouri Highway Patrol spokesman for
Troop D.

"I don't think drug carriers will be extinct on Interstate 44. There might
be fewer loads for awhile, it might be like that for two years, but they'll
go back to their ways.

"It's not that we've let our guard down now," Bracker continued. "In
Louisville, they need to be on their guard looking."

No problem, said Maj. David Herald of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
Six officers with motor vehicles work I-65 and will continue to search for
drugs or anything that could be used for mass destruction. In recent
months, they've begun to realize that Louisville may be playing a larger
role in transportation than in years past.

"We've seen more seizures since Sept. 11," Herald said. "I think there's
always a ripple effect when something like that happens."

As law enforcement has refocused efforts to people who smuggle contraband
or hazardous waste, it's only reasonable to think they'll get more narcotics.

"For officers who do good road interviews of people capable of mass
destruction, when you do that you overlap into drug interdiction," Herald
said. "I think drug smugglers realize more people are attempting to be
aware of what's going on."

And as they change their routes and behaviors, law enforcement will follow
suit. The goal is to be a step ahead.

"We'll adapt," Cooper said. "We'll do whatever it takes to get the job done."