MEXICAN CUSTOMS AGENTS TRADE GUNFIRE WITH GANG AT BORDER

1 official killed, at least 1 American injured

MEXICO CITY An armed gang apparently working for drug traffickers
battled with Mexican customs agents near the U.S. border, killing a Mexican
official and wounding at least one American, after the agents stopped a van
smuggling $123,000 in cash, officials said Monday.

The gunfight late Sunday just 50 yards from the U.S. Customs station at
Nogales, Ariz. highlighted the increasing threat that drugtrafficking
violence poses to the U.S. border area. The case also appeared to provide
further evidence that traffickers are sending their cash back to Mexico in
bulk, to avoid moneylaundering controls on the U.S. side.

The clash began about 6 p.m. Sunday. A customs agent in Nogales, Mexico,
pulled over a pickup truck that had just arrived from the U.S. side, said a
statement from Mexico's tax department, which oversees customs.

The customs agent asked the driver about a big box in the truck and he
termed it a wedding present, the statement said. When the agent asked the
man to open it, the driver offered him a $20 bribe. But the agent said no.
The driver then handed the box to another passenger, who jumped out of the
truck and fled, the statement said.

But the "present" proved too heavy for the man to carry. He dropped the
box, which burst open, spilling U.S. bills everywhere, the statement said.
Customs agents brought the driver into their office, where they proceeded
to count the bills $123,100 in all, the statement said.

"While the customs personnel were counting the money, between five and nine
men with handguns and rifles suddenly turned up, determined to rescue both
the dollars and the detained man," the statement said. "Without a word,
they opened fire on the customs agents."

One agent identified as Jose Toledo Guadarrama, 31 was killed and
another wounded, it said. At that point, the customs agents returned fire,
joined by Mexican municipal and national police.

The battle could be seen from the U.S. Customs station, said Joe Lafata,
deputy port director in Nogales, Ariz. "You can imagine the pandemonium of
people running and shooting down there," he said. "We needed to get the
private citizens out of the way and our officers under cover."

U.S. Customs quickly shooed 40 waiting vehicles through the booths and into
the United States, then shut the border crossing, he said.

By the time the gunfight ended, two of the assailants were wounded and
taken prisoner, the statement said. The others escaped, including the truck
driver. Their nationalities were not revealed.

"It seems that this was a drugtrafficking operation," said Roberto
Rodriguez, the Mexican consul in Nogales.

The government statement said two Americans were wounded in the firefight.
They had been in line at Mexican customs, waiting to cross into the United
States, when the clash occurred, the statement said. They suffered minor
injuries and were treated at a hospital in Nogales, it said, providing no
details.

But officials in Nogales said only one American was treated at the city's
Holy Cross hospital. Jose Luis Alday, the local police chief, said the
victim was a resident of Nogales, Guillermo Castallanos.

The border crossing was closed for three hours after the attack.

U.S. authorities have sharply stepped up seizures of cash on the border
this year a sign, they say, that drug traffickers are increasingly
sending their profits home in bulk. The drug gangs are apparently trying to
dodge increasingly strict U.S. measures aimed at money launderers.

In April, U.S. officials discovered $5.6 million in a truck in El Paso,
headed for Mexico. It was the largest such seizure in memory on the
Southwest border.