WESTBOUND I-40 POURS DRUG CASH ON POLICE

WEST MEMPHIS -- Routine traffic stops in Crittenden County are
yielding sizable hauls of confiscated cash, indicating that drug
trafficking along the corridors of Interstates 40 and 55 is on the
rise, police say.

Four routine traffic checks in the past month have allowed officers to
collect more than $1,130,084 in cash. And law enforcement authorities
say the money may be small change in the drug trade.

"For every one bust, there's got to be at least 20 that get by," said
Mickey Thornton, an investigator with the Crittenden County Drug Task
Force. "What gets you is that we're just getting the tip of the iceberg."

Police officers refer to the eastbound lanes of I-40 as "the drug
side" and the westbound lanes as "the money side," where the cash is
hauled back to the drug manufacturers.

On Jan. 13, West Memphis police officers seized $741,104 from a
vehicle on I-40. Task force agents also confiscated $72,320 during a
routine stop of a passenger van on I-40 Jan. 18.

Two stops this week netted other sizable takes: Monday, West Memphis
police confiscated $115,660 found floating in a car's gasoline tank on
I-40; the next day the Arkansas Highway Police seized $201,000 in an
18-wheeler southbound on I-55 at a Marion weigh station.

In March of 1998, the Arkansas Highway Police, a traffic enforcement
agency of the state Highway and Transportation Department, confiscated
$3.1 million when officers conducted a routine inspection of a truck
near the Lehi weigh station on I-40. It was the largest cash seizure
in the state's history and the fourth-largest in the United States,
department spokesman Randy Ort said.

Ort said the increase in busts could be the result of more officer
training.

"I am hesitant to speculate on the increase," he said. "But our
officers go through extensive training to inspect commercial vehicles.
That extra training has obviously paid off."

Officers stop vehicles on the interstates for routine traffic
violations. If what officers call "red flags" are observed, they ask
motorists for consent to search the vehicles.

Red flags include discrepancies in drivers' and passengers' stories or
odd-looking body work on vehicles.

"If you stop someone who's hauling drugs or money, 99.9 percent of the
time the driver and passenger will have conflicting stories about
where they are headed," said Sgt. David Bassford of the West Memphis
Police Department said. "If those flags go up, we ask for their
consent to search the car."

In many cases, motorists claim they don't know where the money came
from. If the money is not tainted by drugs and detected by
drug-sniffing dogs, the motorists are often released. But the money is
confiscated.

When money is confiscated during traffic stops, law enforcement
agencies can go through either federal or state civil forfeiture
procedures to obtain some of the money seized. It is more lucrative
for agencies to use federal procedures because they can receive up to
80 percent of the cash.

Under Arkansas forfeiture law, the maximum an agency can keep in a
single confiscation is $250,000, regardless of the total seized. Any
amount over the $250,000 cap would go to the state's asset forfeiture
fund.

Because law enforcement agencies that have confiscated more than
$250,000 have always gone through federal forfeiture procedures to get
back the money, the state's asset forfeiture fund is penniless, state
officials say.

Arkansas legislators are debating revamping the state's forfeiture
statute to help fund the state Crime Laboratory. State Sen. Wayne
Dowd, D-Texarkana, is sponsoring Senate Bill 94, which would require
law enforcement agencies to file with the Administrative Office of
Courts a record of money or other items seized during traffic stops.

"If they change that, we'll be out of a job," the county drug task
force's Thornton speculated about a law that would give the state a
bigger bite of the money. "No local government is going to pay [for
drug enforcement] that kind of money that we get [from
confiscation]."

Four agencies -- the Arkansas State Police, the Arkansas Highway
Police, the Crittenden County Drug Task Force and West Memphis police
- -- are all involved in drug interdiction programs along the
interstates in Crittenden County.

Arkansas State Police Sgt. Steve Gray of Forrest City said that has
helped in making more confiscations.

"There's more people looking for it now," Gray said. "There's more of
an emphasis on drugs. Everybody's looking. Sooner or later they're
going to find something."

But he added that he thought drug dealing also was on the rise. He
said police also have noticed an increase in the use of
tractor-trailer rigs to haul drugs or money across the country.

The interstate system is the main route for drug dealers, police say.
Drugs from California cross the country on I-40. Drugs in Texas and
Mexico are hauled north on Interstate 30 to Little Rock and then east
on I-40.

Most of the drugs are marijuana and cocaine headed for the East
Coast.

"A lot of the marijuana is from Mexico, where it's a higher grade,"
Crittenden County Sheriff Richard Busby said. "I guess the Yankees up
North like that kind.

"Busts like we've had here aren't going to stop [drug trafficking],"
he added. "It's a big business. If they lose a couple hundred thousand
dollars but slip a million through, they've still made a lot of money."

Thornton called I-40 "the drug pipeline." He said it may be more
lucrative for officers to patrol only the westbound lanes of the
interstate in hopes of making more cash confiscations, but such
selective seizures probably would not hold up in court.

"Besides," Thornton said, "drug enforcement is our
job."

He said dealers have become more inventive in hiding drugs and money
in their vehicles. Contraband used to be hidden in bags in the trunk
or in suitcases in the back seats. Now, he said, hidden compartments
are common.

He said he recalls one instance where deputies could access a secret
panel in a vehicle's back seat only after turning on a series of
vehicle instruments, including a rear-window defogger.

"It's like a game for everyone," Thornton said. "How well can they
hide it and how well can we find it?

"There's so much money involved in the drug business. No matter what
we do, they're still going to keep on doing it."