EL PASO AGENCIES ON WAY TO DRUG-SEIZURE RECORD

LAS CRUCES - U.S. Customs Service inspectors at El Paso ports of entry are
now seizing more drugs than their counterparts at any other international
crossings in the nation.

With three quarters of the fiscal year gone, both Customs inspectors and
Border Patrol agents in the El Paso area are on pace to set new records in
drug seizures, officials say.

The agencies form the first and main line of defense against the flow of
drugs from Mexico. Bundles of marijuana, hidden in the false walls of truck
trailers, among crates of imported goods or secreted in passenger cars form
most of the contraband that is seized.

In the past, the four bridges leading from Ciudad Juarez across the Rio
Grande into El Paso have lagged behind ports of entry in San Ysidro,
Calif., in drug seizures.

But for reasons officials say are not entirely clear, this year's Customs
drug busts in El Paso have vaulted to the top of the list nationwide.

From the start of the fiscal year in October through the end of June,
Customs inspectors at the four El Paso ports seized almost 81 tons of
marijuana, nearly double the 41 tons seized at San Ysidro, El Paso's
closest competitor. The estimated value of the El Paso seizures is $161.5
million.

Customs inspectors in El Paso also seized nearly two tons of cocaine and
148 pounds of heroin.

Adding in all Customs offices in the El Paso sector, including
investigative units, inspectors at the El Paso International Airport and
three ports of entry in New Mexico, seizures of marijuana, cocaine and
heroin in the first three quarters totaled 140 tons - a 26 percent increase
over the same period last fiscal year.

"These seizures demonstrate the commitment and dedication Customs employees
have to protecting the American public," David Longoria, Customs port
director in El Paso said recently.

If marijuana seizures by El Paso Customs inspectors continue apace, the
year-end total will break the record set last fiscal year by 34 tons. The
total would be nearly seven times the marijuana haul for the same sector a
decade ago.

Customs spokesman Roger Maier said the reasons for the upsurge in El Paso
are unclear. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Customs agents have
operated at their highest security status, checking under vehicle hoods and
in trunks. Those practices, aided at times by extra staffing, have yielded
some drug seizures, but the same practices have been employed all along the
Mexican border.

Maier also theorized that major disruptions in the Tijuana drug cartel over
the last year - the slaying of one leader and the arrest of another - may
have led suppliers to try to move marijuana through El Paso.

"It's hard to really pinpoint," Maier said.

Osvaldo Amaro, an El Paso-based special agent with the Drug Enforcement
Administration, said that for several weeks after Sept. 11, tighter
security on the border led Mexican traffickers to warehouse their
contraband, particularly marijuana. But eventually traffickers had to try
to cross their drugs.

The Border Patrol's El Paso sector, which comprises West Texas and all of
southern New Mexico, also is seeing record levels of marijuana seizures,
said spokesman Doug Mosier.

As of mid-July, Border Patrol agents in the El Paso sector had seized 92
tons of marijuana, compared to 85 tons at the same point last fiscal year.
The federal fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

The amount seized by Border Patrol agents so far this fiscal year already
exceeds the 88 tons seized in all of the last fiscal year.

"I think smugglers are willing to try any venue possible to promote their
livelihood," Mosier said. "I really don't think the events of Sept. 11 have
altered the habits of smugglers."