DRUG SEIZURES SAD SIGN OF RETURN TO NORMALITY

Border: Traffickers Rush To Move Stockpiles. Heightened Security, More
Thorough Inspections Are Credited For Upsurge In Seized Contraband.

SAN DIEGO -- By one measure, at least, life on the border is back to
normal: The drugs are flowing again.

Narcotics seizures by U.S. authorities along California's border with
Mexico plummeted during the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, but have
bounced back to levels of a year earlier and even gone much higher.

Officials cite several factors, including new top-to-bottom searches of
cars and trucks entering official crossings and the impatience of smugglers
who had delayed shipments of contraband and became overstocked. U.S.
Customs officials at the six ports of entry in California report sharp
rises in the quantities of marijuana, cocaine and heroin seized in recent
weeks. In spite of the two-week lull after Sept. 11, seizures at the border
hit a record high during the 12 months ending Sept. 30, the close of the
federal fiscal year. The recent pace is even faster.

"We're getting a lot of seizures--a lot," said Vince Bond, spokesman for
the Customs Service in San Diego. "The new fiscal year is off to a very
busy start."

Customs seized 36,000 pounds of marijuana along the border in October, up
from 23,000 pounds in September. Inspectors confiscated 32,000 pounds
during the first 28 days of November, about 5,000 pounds more than a year
earlier. The amount of cocaine seized more than doubled to 594 pounds in
October from 264 pounds in September. Cocaine seizures jumped further in
November, to more than 1,000 pounds--far higher than a year earlier, when
inspectors found just 193 pounds.

Heroin seizures also are up.

The same dip and resurgence in seizures has occurred at ports of entry
across the 2,000-mile international border. And U.S. Border Patrol agents
who watch the countryside between the ports say they, too, have confiscated
more drugs in recent weeks.

"The drug seizures have been skyrocketing," said Raleigh Leonard, a Border
Patrol spokesman in San Diego. "It's not a fluke."

A Customs spokesman in Washington, D.C., noted that searches are more
thorough now, so it's logical "that we'll be able to catch more bad guys
and contraband."

Drug Smugglers Withheld Shipments

But any measurement of unlawful activity at the border, such as drug
smuggling and illegal crossings, is open to wide interpretation, and the
sudden fall and rise in drug seizures is no exception. The jump could mean
inspectors are doing a better job of finding the hidden drugs. It could
mean traffickers are shipping more or altering their routes. Or all of the
above.

"Due to the illicit nature of the enterprise, a lot of this is assumption
on our part," said Jay Ahern, who directs Customs field operations along
California's southern border.

U.S. officials believe that smugglers, unnerved by disruption at the border
after the attacks, withheld shipments. At the time, there were conflicting
reports about whether the border would stay open--it did, except for brief
closures due to bomb scares--and extensive news coverage about the rigorous
scrutiny facing vehicles and pedestrians entering the United States. Those
were not ideal conditions for sending loads of drugs across the border.

Officials say smugglers resumed shipments when more stable conditions
returned. Though security remained just as tight, Mexican traffickers faced
stockpiles of drugs that were getting stale and, with little fresh cash for
bribing officials and other operations, a growing risk of detection and
arrest in Mexico, analysts say.

"If they're not making money, it presents myriad problems for them," said
Don Thornhill, spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in
San Diego.

U.S. authorities say the stepped-up searches for bombs and terrorists have
aided the war on drugs--at least at the border. "The anti-terrorism
initiative is our No. 1 priority. The methods used to detect weapons of
mass destruction are the same as for narcotics," Bond said.

Nationwide, however, it remains to be seen how anti-drug efforts are
affected as surveillance aircraft move to counter-terrorism patrols and
investigators shift from tracking drug money to terrorist networks.

The recent seizures follow 12 months in which Customs seized a record 244
tons of narcotics, worth $783 million, at the border in California. That
figure, which includes interdictions by air and sea, is 19% higher than in
the previous year.

Officials said the increased seizures probably resulted from adding 30 to
40 inspectors and new X-ray machines that can find stashes hidden aboard trucks.