CUSTOMS REPORTS INCREASED DRUG SEIZURES

WASHINGTON - Customs inspectors last year seized more heroin, marijuana and
other illegal drugs that were attempted to be smuggled into the United
States. A record amount of the hallucinogenic drug "ecstasy" also was
confiscated.

The Customs Service, citing statistics it compiled, said yesterday that it
seized a total of 1.54 million pounds of illegal drugs in fiscal year 2000,
which ended Sept. 30. That marked an 11.6 percent increase over the 1.38
million pounds seized the previous year.

The figures include cocaine, heroin and other opiates, methamphetamine and
marijuana, but not ecstasy.

Also during fiscal 2000, customs officers seized a record 9.3 million
tablets of ecstasy, a huge increase of 165.7 percent over 1999's 3.5
million tablets.

"Twenty-four-hours a day, seven-days-a-week, customs officers must sort
through a growing volume of people, goods and traffic crossing our borders
to find drugs and other contraband," Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

The service said about 488 million travelers passed through customs at
airports, seaports and border crossings on land in fiscal 2000, compared
with 480 million in '99.

While the quantities of heroin, the stimulant methamphetamine, which goes
by the street name of "crank" and "meth," and marijuana seized in fiscal
2000 all rose sharply, the amount of cocaine seized declined.

The agency, which has been accused of abusive searches, has taken steps
under Kelley's leadership to improve its personal search policies and
respond to charges that it has harassed minorities.

The agency now requires inspectors to seek legal advice from U.S. attorneys
whenever it wants to hold an airline passenger for more than eight hours.
It also has clarified criteria for conducting searches and retrained officers.