DRUG SMUGGLERS USE BODY PARTS

FALFURRIAS, Texas - U.S. Border Patrol agents found $5.5 million worth of
marijuana and cocaine stashed among body parts in the back of a truck in
South Texas, a Border Patrol spokeswoman said yesterday.

Agents made the discovery Wednesday while searching bins full of dirty
hospital laundry in the truck after a drug-sniffing dog went after it, said
Border Patrol spokesman Leti Garza.

"They found an amputated leg, intestines and other muck," she said of the
bust at a Border Patrol stop in Falfurrias, 80 miles north of the Rio
Grande.

"This is one of the most unusual cases we've ever come across. He (the
agent on the case) was totally shocked and weirded out about it," Garza
said.

She said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency believes the body parts came from
hospitals in South Texas and were used to try to mask the smell of the
drugs.

The discovery raised fears that drug smugglers are using increasingly
bizarre means to get their illicit goods from Mexico into the United
States, Garza said.

"We think this is a new trend in the transport of illegal drugs. The drug
smugglers appear to be taking extreme measures to get drugs smuggled up
north where they are worth a lot more money.

"They've used the traditional methods of hidden compartments, loads of
produce and other ways to ship drugs, now it looks like they're going into
biomedical materials," Garza said.

The agents seized 2,367 pounds of marijuana and 114 pounds of cocaine.

Garza said the driver of the truck was arrested on drug charges and is in
jail in Corpus Christi, Texas.