DRUG TRADE RISES AGAIN ALONG THE BORDER

It fell briefly after the Sept. 11 sneak attacks brought tighter security,
but that's changing.

Drug seizures along the U.S.-Mexico border dropped drastically after last
month's terrorist attacks, but business is booming again, federal agents said.

That's despite heightened security along the border.

And agents expect drug runners will grow more desperate to move shipments
across the reinforced border as the marijuana harvest season south of us ends.

"We suspect there is a pent-up supply of narcotics that has been building
up on the other side of the border as a result of the heightened
enforcement by U.S. authorities," said Vince Iglio, U.S. Customs Service
agent in charge for Tucson.

Federal officials in Washington said drug seizures along the Arizona-
Sonora border are higher than normal.

Between Sept. 11 and the beginning of October, more than 2,500 pounds of
marijuana were seized by Customs Service officials at Arizona's six ports
of entry.

During the same period last year, 1,834 pounds were seized.

"It's really picked up in the past six or seven days," said Roger Maier, a
Customs spokesman in Washington. "The drug business is a money business,
and they're going to move (drugs) through if they have to."

The Border Patrol in Tucson reported no drug seizures Sept. 11 and just a
6.3-pound marijuana bust the next day, said spokesman Rene Noriega.

But between Sept. 14 and 20, Border Patrol agents seized more than 1,000
pounds of the drug each day in the Tucson Sector, which includes all of
Arizona except Yuma.

Daily illegal immigrant apprehensions dropped sharply after the attack,
Noriega added. They are about 59 percent lower than during the first few
days of October last year.

"We know this time of year is the harvest season, and the drug smugglers as
well as alien smugglers have their own counterintelligence sources,"
Noriega said. "They may very well be sitting back to see where our
weaknesses are to try and bring drugs through."

Tuesday, 1,814 pounds of pot and 43.8 pounds of cocaine, with a combined
street value of $2.2 million, were intercepted at the Arizona-Mexico border.