SMUGGLERS TURN TO TEENS TO HAUL DRUGS

LAS CRUCES -- U.S. Customs Service inspectors have detained six
juveniles in the past week for suspicion of drug smuggling, with
officials saying the use of teen-agers to carry drugs is an
increasingly popular smuggler tactic to evade federal seizures at the
U.S. border.

Four of the juvenile drug "mules" were 16 years old and two were 17.
Together, the six teen-agers were alleged to be carrying 501 pounds of
marijuana, with a street value of about $500,000.

"In many cases, they (drug traffickers) will tell the kids that,
because they are so young, nothing will happen to them, it's a slap on
the wrist and they will let them go," said Roger Maier, spokesman for
the U.S. Customs Service in El Paso, which covers West Texas and New
Mexico.

An El Paso prosecutor said he has seen two girls, ages 13 and 12,
carrying more than four pounds of cocaine in their schoolyard backpacks.

The El Paso County Juvenile Probation Department in 1997 adjudicated
16 juveniles for smuggling more than 50 pounds of marijuana, 46
juveniles in 1998 and 83 in 1999, according to Manny Torres, director
of intake and court investigations.

"What's happening here is a trend mirrored nationwide for Customs,"
Maier said.

Drug busts involving teens over the last week at El Paso ports of
entry included:

* The seizure March 11 of 54.2 pounds of marijuana from a car driven
by a 16-year-old boy from Ciudad Juarez at the Ysleta bridge;

* The seizure March 13 of 70.2 pounds of marijuana from a 17-year-old
Juarez boy at the Ysleta bridge;

* The seizure March 14 of 63 pounds of marijuana from a 16-year-old
Chaparral, N.M., boy on the Paso del Norte bridge;

* The seizure March 14 of 113.8 pounds of marijuana from a 16-year-old
El Paso boy at the Ysleta port of entry;

* The seizure March 15 of 110.2 pounds of marijuana at the Ysleta
bridge from a 16-year-old Juarez boy;

* The seizure March 16 of 89.8 pounds of marijuana from a 17-year-old
Juarez boy on the Bridge of the Americas.

Juvenile offenders are not processed in federal court.

Generally, juveniles found guilty of drug smuggling may be sent to a
Texas state juvenile detention center, or they can be released on
probation, including to their parents in Mexico, Torres said.

But juveniles returned to Mexico on probation for felony drug cases
are not allowed to ever return to the United States, said David
Contreras, head of the El Paso County district attorney's juvenile
unit.

"We know in the drug trade in El Paso, in Juarez, people die, and kids
have no business getting involved in that," Contreras said.
"Unfortunately, we live in a depressed area, and $500 is a lot of
money," he said. "In Mexico, that's half a year's wages."

Youngsters are not the only mules being used by drug traffickers to
sneak marijuana across the international border.

On March 3, Customs inspectors at the Columbus, N.M., port of entry
discovered 319.5 pounds of marijuana hidden under the hood of a pickup
driven by an 81-year-old man.

Customs inspectors found 172 pounds of marijuana in a van driven Jan.
12 on the Bridge of the Americas by a 70-year-old man.