CUSTOMS INSPECTORS OFFER X-RAYS AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO STRIP

Security: But So Far, None Of The Air Passengers Given The Choice Has Opted
For The Less Embarrassing Method.

Washington - Airline passengers suspected of carrying illegal drugs are for
the first time getting a choice from U.S. Customs agents who want to search
them: Submit to a strip search or be taken to a nearby hospital for an X-ray.

Customs began testing the X-ray option at New York's Kennedy International
Airport and Miami International Airport in October while looking at ways to
make searches less intrusive and less embarrassing for passengers and
inspectors. The tests will end in mid-January.

"We are trying to make this unpleasant but necessary part of our jobs less
unpleasant," said U.S. Customs Commissioner Raymond Kelly.

The x-ray could reveal drugs that had been ingested or hidden in body
cavities or underneath clothing.

So far, none of the passengers presented with the choice has opted for an
x-ray, Kelly said. Seven passengers at JFK given the option chose to be
strip-searched.

Not all passengers get the option - 44 passengers were required to be
strip-searched because inspectors felt something that could be drugs under
their clothing.

The New York and Miami airports were chosen because they have the heaviest
flow of international passengers entering the United States.

Kelly said inspectors do body searches on about 1,700 airline passengers a
year. Some passengers are required to remove some or all of their clothing.

The passengers have been singled out for a variety of reasons, sometimes
because the agency has information about them or because they are traveling
from countries and on flights frequented by drug smugglers. Passengers are
first interviewed and if inspectors suspect they might have drugs, they can
be searched.

Some passengers who were strip-searched but didn't have drugs have sued the
Customs Service..

"Obviously there are lawsuits, but it's more of an overarching approach
that technology is there to be used and can make our lives easier and the
lives of the traveling public easier," Kelly said, referring to the X-rays
option.

About 35 percent of those searched each year are found to be carrying
drugs, said Kelly. Most of those smuggling heroin have ingested it by
putting small bags of the drug in a condom, which the swallow.

The Customs Service also is training supervisors at both airports to use
magnetic imaging machines that might be used instead of strip searches.
Kelly said the service has not yet begun using the machines on passengers.

Checked-by: Richard Lake