FRONT LINE OF THE DRUG WAR

Falfurrias Checkpoint Paces Nation

FALFURRIAS CHECKPOINT - The smugglers thought they had taken enough
precautions.

First, they vacuum-sealed the bricks of marijuana until they looked
like packets of gourmet coffee. Then they smeared the plastic with a
sweet-smelling grease before wrapping the bricks with another layer of
clear plastic.

Finally, they stuffed the 208 pounds of marijuana among boxes of ripe
mangos in a yellow 18-wheeler, and sent their stash north on U.S.
Highway 281.

But, like 620 other drug caches since October, the illicit cargo was
intercepted June 7 at the U.S. Border Patrol's Falfurrias checkpoint,
the nation's most productive off-border checkpoint in terms of illegal
drug seizures. Through February, the checkpoint has made almost as
many seizures as all the checkpoints in the states of California and
Arizona combined, according to Border Patrol records.

Compared to the June 5 seizure of $53 million worth of cocaine - more
than most checkpoints find in a year - the 208-pound bust was child's
play. In the last six months the checkpoint has seized more than
127,000 pounds of cocaine and marijuana, worth $205 million on the
street.

"We're known nationwide for drug seizures," said Eligio Pena,
assistant-agent-in-charge at the Falfurrias checkpoint. "This is the
drug capital of the world."

Days and nights at the Falfurrias checkpoint are punctuated by idle
moments, when the checkpoint and highway are utterly quiet, and by
moments of near chaos, when the line of vehicles stretches for half a
mile and agents and drug dogs scramble to interview each passing car
and truck.

In any given 24-hour period, 10,000 vehicles pass through the
checkpoint, a third of which are 18-wheelers. Just how many cars and
trucks are carrying illegal drugs is anyone's guess, officials say.

Natural route

Agents in Falfurrias say that, over the years, catching drug runners
has become part of the culture at the checkpoint. While the Border
Patrol's main aim continues to be stemming illegal immigration, the
Falfurrias checkpoint has carved out a niche as the undisputed king of
drug busts.

Law enforcement agencies from as far away as Illinois and Missouri, as
well as other Border Patrol stations, send officers and agents to
Falfurrias to learn how their agents detect hidden compartments, size
up nervous drivers and use drug dogs to sniff out hidden stashes.

Officials point to a number of reasons to explain the success of the
Falfurrias checkpoint, located in a remote area of brush about 100
miles north of the Mexican border and 100 miles southwest of Corpus
Christi.

Pena says the checkpoint's location on U.S. Highway 281 - the main
northbound thoroughfare from McAllen - has made it a natural byway for
drugs coming from the Rio Grande Valley. And unlike U.S. Highway 77 to
the east, which he describes as a gauntlet of DPS troopers, various
narcotics task forces and sheriff's deputies, U.S. 281 is relatively
free of police until vehicles reach the checkpoint. "We're basically
the only law enforcement out here," he said.

Terry Cooper, canine coordinator for the Border Patrol's McAllen
sector, says the border area south of U.S. 281 is more conducive to
drug running than other areas, with wide expanses of open brush and
sparsely populated land around the cities of McAllen and Rio Grande
City.

Drug dogs

Pena said a key to the checkpoint's success is its use of
drug-sniffing dogs, which now work in three shifts so there is at
least one dog available 24 hours a day. Other checkpoints don't use
canine units nearly as much, he said.

Pena said the Falfurrias checkpoint has a history of breaking new
ground with drug dogs. The Border Patrol's first drug-sniffing canine
made its debut at the checkpoint in 1987.

Agent Tom Slowinski, who handled that first dog, "Barko,'' said the
canines have transformed how drug work is done. "It's made things a
lot easier and quicker," he said.

Agents say the dogs have sniffed drugs out of almost every substance
smugglers use to mask the odor of their cargo, including ammonia,
motor oil, coffee beans, mustard, fabric-softener sheets, bushels of
fruit and the ubiquitous vacuum-sealed, grease-slathered plastic bags.

Pena said the dogs are rarely fooled by such attempts to confuse their
noses because they are able to smell multiple odors at one time. "They
smell like we see," he said.

A year ago, the checkpoint decided to use the dogs full-time at the
primary inspection where they do a sniff of every vehicle. Before, the
dogs were only brought in to confirm an agent's suspicion once a
vehicle was pulled over.

"It still amazes me every time a dog finds something," said Charlie
Miller, a canine handler whose dog Basco sniffed out the $53 million
load June 5. "It's like a kid watching a magician."

Supervisory agent J.D. Cabral, who has worked at the checkpoint since
the mid-1980s, said agents have developed a pride in busting drugs
that dates back to a time 15 years ago when drugs were mostly an
afterthought for the Border Patrol.

Focusing on drugs

In the years before dogs, Cabral said, drugs played a minor role
compared to apprehending illegal immigrants, and agents would be lucky
to find a few ounces of marijuana under a seat.

But a core group of veteran agents in Falfurrias developed a knack for
finding dope, learning how to spot the signs of a nervous smuggler or
an altered vehicle containing hidden compartments. A driver who
couldn't look an agent in the eye, who gripped the steering wheel too
tightly, whose head rode too close to the roof of his truck or whose
car smelled of Bondo and glue were signs the agents learned to
identify, Cabral said.

"The (veteran agents) instilled these interview techniques into us and
taught us about compartments," Cabral said. "There were a group of
guys who were into dope and we started hitting it hard. We took pride
in it. We were kicking butt."

That sense of pride is instilled in each successive group of trainees
at the Falfurrias checkpoint, Cabral said.

But no matter how proficient agents are at ferreting out illegal
drugs, smugglers in the multi-billion dollar narco-traffic game keep
changing tactics and strategies in their attempt to evade the men in
green.

Smuggler tactics

Agents say smugglers no longer take the stereotypical form of long
hair, tattoos and a junky car. Today, smugglers use a variety of
covers for their loads: elderly couples, pretty young girls who bat
their eyelashes at agents, families with small children, suited men in
Mercedes Benzes. Pena says even priests and nuns have been caught
carrying loads.

Smugglers have also learned intelligence and distraction techniques.
Cabral estimates smugglers send people through the checkpoint daily
with the sole purpose of checking out how many agents are working or
which drug dog is on duty. That information is then radioed south.

Smugglers also send in decoy loads, usually a smaller amount of
cocaine or marijuana hidden someplace difficult like the gas tank. The
idea is for the real load to follow a few minutes later while agents
are preoccupied with the decoy stash.

Then there is the never-ending race to come up with innovative hidden
compartments. Cabral said new compartments - like the roofs of
18-wheelers or inside drive trains - come in waves until agents learn
to detect them.

Tangible results

And agents who depend on interview techniques must be on high alert
when it comes to seasoned smugglers, Pena said. Some will try to mask
their intentions by acting too friendly and telling agents how good a
job they're doing. Others go the opposite direction, acting
belligerent and upset, figuring agents wouldn't expect someone hauling
a ton of marijuana to cop an attitude.

For agents like Charlie Miller, drug catching is the one part of the
job that is clear cut, where the rewards are tangible. When you bust a
big load, Miller says, the fruits of your labor are sitting in front
of you in packets of white powder and green leaf.

"That's the best part, taking the dope off the streets," he said,
rubbing Basco's ears. "You know that dope didn't reach those kids up
there.

"As a father with kids in school, that hits home to
me."