U.S. METH SEIZURES RISE 1,400 PERCENT IN ARIZONA

Federal agents are seizing record amounts of methamphetamine coming
across Arizona's border with Mexico, and in the past five years
seizures in the state have jumped more than 1,400 percent,
authorities said.

The smuggling is feeding a rapidly growing addiction by users in
Arizona, they said.

Seizures are being made at a "runaway pace," said U.S. Customs
Service spokesman Roger Maier.

Some 274 pounds of the drug have been seized since October, compared
with 172 pounds during all of last fiscal year.

"It looks like the Arizona border area is growing as an important
shipment point for meth," Maier said. "We're starting to see it creep
across the entire state now."

Historically, the largest meth seizures were reported on the far
western part of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, mainly in Tijuana
and Mexicali.

But since 1998, Arizona's 315-mile border with Mexico has taken over
a share of the meth market. The reason, authorities said, is partly
surging demand.

"Methamphetamine use has gone up tremendously in the Southwest," said
Jim Molesa, spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration. "Other
than marijuana, meth has become the drug of choice for Arizonans."

Meth trafficking, once dominated by motorcycle gangs, is now under
the control of Mexican drug dealers, according to the DEA.

Cartels south of the border broke into the meth trade in 1995, the
DEA said, and used their ability to obtain wholesale quantities of
chemicals needed to make "meth" and already existing drug-trafficking
networks to step up distribution and control.

Increasingly, drug smugglers are importing raw materials into the
United States and then making the drug in this country, Molesa said.

Federal authorities said meth is attractive to Mexican drug cartels
because it can be made in Mexico, cutting out the supplier needed for
drugs such as cocaine. Customs estimates that an ounce of meth sells
for $1,000 on the street, although the DEA number is slightly lower.

Monday, customs agents in Nogales seized 42 pounds of methamphetamine
in two batches with an estimated street value of $672,000. Agents
arrested three women in connection with the smuggling attempt.

In the first seizure, Carina Ojeda Medina, 28, of Los Angeles
allegedly drove a 1996 Mercury across the border with Claudia Beltran
Zamora, 21, of Culiacan, Mexico, authorities said.

Agents found 20 pounds of meth wrapped in black-taped packages in a
hidden compartment in the vehicle's radiator, authorities said.

The women told agents another vehicle already had passed through the
port of entry in Nogales. Rosa Lopez-Valenzuela of Hermosillo, Son.,
31, was arrested after authorities found 20 pounds of meth in a
hidden compartment in her vehicle's radiator, agents said.

The women were arrested on suspicion of importation of controlled
substance, possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy.

Customs Service seizures in Arizona

Methamphetamine, described by the Drug Enforcement Administration as
the "fastest-growing drug threat in America today," is a central
nervous system stimulant. Meth is coming across the U.S.-Mexico
border through Arizona in record amounts, authorities say.

Fiscal year Seizures Pounds

2002 (to date) 67 274

2001 85 172

2000 70 239

1999 55 70

1998 45 18