DRUG BUSTS ON HIGHWAYS UP

Tighter Airport Security since Sept. 11 Major Factor, Miss. Official Says

Routine traffic stops are turning into drug busts more often in
Mississippi, making law officers believe tighter airport security has
forced drug dealers back to the roads, a task force director says.

Officers are finding more private and commercial vehicles with drugs and
cash in secret compartments in the wake of increased airport security that
followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said James Hawkins, head of the
High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area task forces in Mississippi.

The latest figures available show law enforcement agencies made 278 drug
seizures on state highways from Sept. 11 to March 31, compared with 151 in
the same period in 2000 and 2001. That's an 84 percent increase.

The law enforcement agencies recovered 7,352 pounds of cocaine, marijuana
and methamphetamines from Sept. 11 to March 31, compared with 3,535 pounds
of cocaine, marijuana and methamphetamines in the same period a year
earlier, more than doubling the seizures.

Agencies in other states, including Arkansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma and
Virginia, also have seen drug seizures on highways increase since Sept. 11,
according to published reports.

"People trying to transport drugs through the air has all but shut down
since 9-11 because of the security," said Hawkins, a former U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration agent.

At Jackson International Airport, there have been two busts since Sept. 11,
Hawkins said, but none in the past 90 days.

By next year, security at airports across the country will be even tighter.
Machines that can detect explosives will be installed in airport baggage areas.

"At the same time, if there are drugs there, they will be found, too,"
Hawkins said. "The logical thing on the part of the potential drug
smugglers is: Don't use the airports. Don't risk getting searched and your
luggage getting checked.

"I can't imagine anyone being stupid enough to try to send some (drugs)
through."

Most of the drug seizures on Mississippi highways are being made on the
interstates - I-10, I-20, I-55 and I-59, Hawkins said.

The majority of the seizures have been on I-20, an east-west corridor
running through the Jackson metro area, and I-10, an east-west corridor
running along the Mississippi Gulf Coast, Hawkins said.

"Everything coming from the Mexican border going to the East Coast comes
through here either on I-10 or I-20," Hawkins said. "It's a direct route to
Atlanta, Philadelphia and everything on the eastern seaboard."

Pearl police officers are often on I-20 watching for drug traffickers,
Police Chief Bill Slade said.

"We have had several (seizures)," Slade said. "We had two or three stops
where we had drugs going east, and we have gotten a little bit over
$300,000 going westbound."

Most of the drug seizures on state highways are being made by Mississippi
Highway Safety Patrol troopers, Hawkins said.

Drug traffickers are trying to make sure drugs are difficult for officers
to find, Trooper Wayne Wasson said.

Drug traffickers often use items such as duct tape, dryer sheets, pepper
spray and perfume to hide the smell, officials said.

Officers are finding the drugs with help from drug-sniffing dogs, X-ray
machines and cameras, Hawkins said.

"It can be time-consuming trying to find what they have," said Wasson, who
in May found $100,000 worth of black tar heroin hidden in the dashboard of
a car on I-20 East near Bolton. "A good thorough search can take 30, 40
minutes."

Several months ago, law enforcement agencies on the Gulf Coast teamed up to
find drug traffickers on I-10, Hawkins said.

Hawkins wants to organize a similar effort on I-20, teaming the Highway
Patrol with the Warren, Hinds and Rankin counties sheriff's departments and
the Pearl and Brandon police departments.

"I would say we are probably not getting 10 percent of the drugs coming
through on the interstates," Hawkins said. "Right now, we are not really
trying to focus on this. If we really got out there and got focused, there
is no telling what we might end with up."

Getting drug traffickers off the road is a job many law enforcement
officers are not taking lightly since Sept. 11, Madison County Sheriff Toby
Trowbridge said.

"This is personal," Trowbridge said, noting a TV commercial that says
people buying drugs may be supporting terrorists.

Trowbridge has deputies in a drug interdiction unit that patrols I-55. "We
are looking (for drug traffickers) all the time," Trowbridge said.