DETOUR FOR DRUG SMUGGLERS: TAKE I-20

Traffic stops are turning into drug busts for more cops along I-20 in metro
Atlanta. Police say they are seizing more drugs than ever on the east-west
route, which originates near the Mexican border and gives smugglers a
straight shot out of Texas.

"Instead of Miami being the cocaine capital of the world, it's coming out
of Mexico," said Capt. Ron Dykes, commander of the DeKalb Police
Department's narcotics squad.

Traditionally, Southeastern narcotics shipments have moved from Florida
through Georgia on I-95, I-85 and I-75.

But a decade of South Florida crackdowns by the Coast Guard, Air Force and
Customs Service have forced drug barons to seek other routes, according to
the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

Smugglers who once worked mainly by sea and air now are driving across
Mexico, catching I-20 at its westernmost point near El Paso, Texas. From
there, they can head straight into downtown Atlanta to connect with I-75
and its Detroit-Chicago offshoots or I-85 for a northeastern run.

"If the pressure's on in one area, then they move somewhere else," said
David Luitweiler, executive assistant to the director of the DEA.

Even though the detour indicates that the Florida crackdowns have made an
impact, it doesn't necessarily signal a reduction in drugs on Americans
streets, authorities acknowledge. "The only thing anybody knows about is
what's caught," said Agent Joe Long of the DEA's El Paso intelligence
center. No single agency tries to count how many pounds of drugs are
confiscated by local police departments, which account for most arrests,
authorities say.

The DEA does, however, count its drug seizures, and they document the shift
from Florida to the Mexican border states.

Does the I-20 traffic mean more drugs are being pumped into neighborhoods
along the route? Not necessarily, police say. Like every big city, Atlanta
is a major drug market, but most of the drugs on its bypass highways keep
moving up the interstate system.

Still, the illegal cargo can spell danger for interstate traffic cops,
officers say. "If you're dealing with that level of violator, the potential
for violence is always increased," said Conyers police Chief Tony Lucas,
whose officers patrol I-20 east of Atlanta.

That's why Lucas made interdiction a department initiative this year. He
bought two K-9 dogs to sniff out suspicious vehicles and trained his
traffic officers to watch for possible drug runners.

This month, a driver was weaving along I-20 through Conyers. A patrolling
officer was close behind, and his suspicions grew by the moment. Why was
there a tattered dealer's tag on a new-looking car? Why did the driver
freeze up, clenching the wheel, when the patrol car pulled by his side,
even before the siren sounded? After the officer stopped the car, he
wondered what was in a black garbage bag on the floorboard. With the police
station less than a mile away, a drug-sniffing K-9 dog was rushed to the
scene while the arresting officer stalled the suspect.

A few barks and paw scratches were all the police needed for probable cause
to search the car. Under the bag was 8 pounds of marijuana.

It's really the harder drugs Lucas would like to intercept, such as cocaine
and heroin. But another fast-growing concern is methamphetamine, produced
in large Mexican labs.

"The metro Atlanta area is often known as the methamphetamine capital of
the Southeast," said John Andrejko, special agent in charge of the DEA's
regional office.

Fueling the I-20 connection is what authorities call a growing partnership
between Colombian and Mexican drug bosses, who operated independently for
the most part until 10 years ago.

Now, Colombian producers cooperate with Mexican drivers, who pick up
shipments and cross the U.S. border.

That overland route is an alternative to the old Caribbean and Atlantic
crossings, where smugglers must elude Coast Guard crews, AWACS aerial
surveillance and Federal Aviation Administration radar. Georgia State
Patrol troopers say they have seized more drugs on I-20 but have seen no
let-up on the north-south routes. "At one time we saw a drop, but it's back
to running like before," said patrol spokesman Gordy Wright. "With the
volume of traffic now, what law enforcement gets now is just the tip of the
iceberg."

Last week, Louisiana police found 24 pounds of Valium in a car during a
stop in Shreveport, the first city east of the Texas line on I-20. "A few
years ago, about the only thing coming west to east was marijuana," said
Louisiana Trooper Don Campbell. "Now it's everything: cocaine,
methamphetamines, prescription drugs."

West of Atlanta on I-20, Douglas County Sheriff Tommy Waldrop agreed:
"You're seeing more drugs everywhere."

In Conyers, Chief Lucas has focused on the drug war as a member of the
narcotics committee of the International Association of Chiefs of Police.

"You can't put an agent at every mile on the border," Lucas said. "As long
as we're the United States of America, and we welcome everybody with open
arms, then that makes it an easy route to funnel drugs."