FREON SMUGGLERS BUSTED, CUSTOMS AGENTS SAY

SAN ANTONIO - U.S. Customs Service agents disclosed yesterday a crackdown on
what they called a "grandiose scheme" to smuggle 75,000 pounds of the banned
refrigerant Freon into the United States.

The substance, which no longer can be imported into the country because of
clean-air laws, originated in Venezuela and Mexico, said Leonard Lindheim,
customs agent in charge in San Antonio.

Much of the Freon arrived in tanks at the Port of Houston before ending up
in a San Antonio-area warehouse and then being sold to legitimate customers,
Lindheim said.

"This is a smuggling case, and as in most smuggling cases, just like drugs,
the profit motive here is pure greed," Lindheim said.

This is the largest Freon smuggling bust so far in Texas, he said.

Freon, which is formally known as dichlorodifluoromethane, or CFC-12, can be
recycled in the United States, but since 1996 it cannot be manufactured or
brought into the country.

The Freon in this case has an estimated retail market value of $3.2 million,
said U.S. Attorney Bill Blagg.

Edwin Reilly Jr., 55, is accused of smuggling Freon and selling it through
his Post Manufacturing Co. in Converse on the outskirts of San Antonio.
Customs agents yesterday showed reporters 5,500-pound tanks they said were
made to appear to be refrigeration units but instead were storing illegal
Freon.

Reilly is charged with one count of smuggling and one count of evading
excise taxes and could face up to five years in prison and up to a $250,000
fine if convicted.

Reilly did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking
comment. He was expected to voluntarily turn himself in to federal
authorities by today, Blagg said.

Customs investigators were tipped by a company in Venezuela, Lindheim said.

Freon is used in car air conditioners and various types of refrigeration
units. New automobiles are made to operate without Freon.

The Clean Air Act and an international agreement known as the Montreal
Protocol banned Freon because a component in it sets off a reaction that
destroys the ozone layer above the Earth.