FBI'S WORRY: TERRORISTS MAY USE DRUG CROSSINGS

DALLAS - Dirt roads trace pale lines across a desolate landscape of
bald peaks and plunging canyons near Texas' Big Bend and bridge the
Mexican border at dozens of improvised crossings. For decades, these
routes have been used to smuggle drugs and people. Now there is
growing concern they could become deadly conduits for terrorism.

A confidential but unclassified FBI intelligence bulletin, obtained
by the Dallas Morning News, contains the vague outlines of a possible
terrorist plot.

Officials from both sides of the border downplayed the possible
threat but acknowledged that it is the sort of scenario they have to
guard against. The prospect of terrorists crossing the southern
border has been a rising concern among officials in Texas and Washington.

The plot, according to uncorroborated information provided by an FBI
informant, involves a man, described as an Arab who goes by the
nickname "El Espanol," and Ernesto Zatarin Beliz, also known as "El
Traca," a reputed Mexican drug trafficker and member of the Zetas,
the feared enforcers of the notorious Gulf cartel.

"El Espanol is gathering truck drivers with knowledge of truck routes
in the United States and explosive experts" in the state of Coahuila,
according to the March 11 memo, which originated in the San Diego FBI
office and was made available by a U.S. attorney's office. The
informant "believes that the activity in Coahuila, Mexico, is
terrorist-related."

In exchange for the Zetas' help in recruiting drivers, the memo says,
the Arab -- who barely speaks Spanish -- promised to help them fund
and execute a plan to free Gulf cartel leader Osiel Cardenas from
prison. The Gulf cartel is embroiled in a bloody turf war with rival
traffickers for control of Nuevo Laredo, a key drug-smuggling route
into the United States.

According to the FBI memo, Traca was attempting to recruit a security
guard at a Mexican government explosives factory in Cuatro Cienegas,
Coahuila, to assist with the Arab's plan. The region is known for
producing nitric acid and ammonium nitrate, materials that are used
for industrial and agricultural purposes and can also be ingredients
for explosives.

The informant has "provided reliable narcotics intelligence in the
past," the bulletin says, but adds that the informant also flunked
two polygraph tests.