DRUG COURIERS HITTING ROAD

Since 9/11, Many Of Them Are Getting Caught Along I-80

OMAHA, Neb. - Drug traffickers apparently are moving their goods on
wheels rather than by air because of increased airport security since
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Troopers along one of the nation's busiest transcontinental highways,
I-80, have uncovered record amounts of drugs - mostly marijuana and
cocaine - during routine traffic stops in recent months.

Nebraska, Iowa, Ohio and Wyoming all have seen sharp increases in
drug seizures along the interstate highway since the attacks. Those
states account for nearly half of the highway's 2,909 miles between
San Francisco and the New York City area.

Officials in Utah say it's hard to know if drug-shipment seizures
along the portion of I-80 that runs through the state have gone up
since Sept. 11.

"When Sept. 11 happened, I immediately sent out an e-mail to all my
people that because of the increased security at the airport you can
expect small shipments being transported in cars rather than
airlines," said Lt. Fred Swain, commander of the Utah Department of
Public Safety Criminal Interdiction Team. "We just can't say for sure
if these were organizations that normally would have used airplanes
or not."

The team was formed Oct. 9, and in addition to catching drug
smugglers on Utah roadways helps prevent terrorism, tracks wanted
persons and stolen vehicles.

Since Oct. 9 UHP has seized 19 shipments of significant drug loads,
which are essentially one pound or more.

"Ten of those cases are a pound or two pounds - and a majority of
those are meth cases - which are consistent with the quantities that
would be smuggled over the airlines," Swain said.

But because the team was not around last year, Swain said it's hard
to say if troopers are catching more shipments. The department has
also seen a shift in policy over the last year, with the focus being
moved away from drug interdiction to traffic enforcement and making
the roads safer.

With the Criminal Interdiction Team now in place, highway drug
interdiction will be tracked and monitored by a single supervisor,
Swain said.

Of the 19 drug cases, only one was actually seized on I-80. Another
seven were caught before they reached I-80 headed for places like
Detroit or Des Moines, Iowa, Swain said.

"There were probably about three other cases that we don't know the
destination because we were not able to figure it out from our
investigation," Swain said.

"It is possible that more drugs are being transported over the road
by those who want to avoid the heightened security at airports, but I
would say there's not one single explanation for the increase," said
Col. Tom Nesbitt, head of the Nebraska State Patrol.

Nesbitt, whose agency polices more miles of the interstate than any
other in the nation, said he also believes better trained troopers
should be credited with finding more drugs.

After seeing a drop in drug seizures in the weeks after the attacks,
Nebraska troopers started to find more drugs in early October. The
latest count was 2,664 pounds of drugs seized in highway traffic
stops in Nebraska from October to January - more than twice the 1,236
pounds seized during the same period last year.

Most of the drugs were found hidden in cars, vans and other vehicles
on the east-west interstate, which also crosses California, Nevada,
Utah, Indiana, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

"Since Sept. 11, every law-enforcement officer in the country is more
aware of who he's talking to," Wyoming State Highway Patrol Lt. Carl
McDonald said.

McDonald believes improved training and four new drug-sniffing dogs
have led to more drug seizures and arrests in Wyoming. Felony drug
arrests there more than quadrupled from 30 in 2000 to 126 last year.
McDonald said most of the new arrests were made along Interstate 80
since Sept. 11.

Drug traffickers aren't slowing down, either. Drug seizures in Ohio
increased by 170 percent in the past six weeks. A Feb. 5 stop in
western Ohio netted a record 1,872 pounds of marijuana on the north-
south Interstate 75, which intersects with I-80 near Toledo.

Since October, troopers in Ohio have uncovered about 215 pounds of
marijuana on Interstate 80, compared to just a quarter pound during
the same time last year.

Iowa troopers have seized $8.2 million in illegal drugs since Jan. 1
- - more than the $8 million seized for all of 2001. Drug arrests in
the state before January were only slightly higher than usual,
leading Hansen to speculate that federal regulations calling for the
screening of checked baggage at airports after Jan. 18 led more
traffickers to the road.

"The one thing we can look at is the increased security at all the
commercial transportation sites - airports, Greyhound bus stations,
Amtrak stations. That eliminates a major avenue for these people,"
Hansen said.

Not every I-80 state has seen an increase. In Nevada, New Jersey and
Indiana, drug seizures have remained steady.

"Interstate 80 is a major drug corridor from California east, so we
always stay pretty busy," Nevada Highway Patrol spokesman Pat McGill
said.

In Utah, the highway patrol made 23 percent fewer drug arrests from
Sept. 15 to Feb. 1 when compared with the same period last year.
Those arrests were personal-use, not drug-shipment seizures, Utah
Highway Patrol Sgt. Doug McCleve said.

McCleve said preparations for the recent Winter Olympics occupied
troopers' time, which could have accounted for the drop.

Nesbitt is not ready to call the increases in his state anything more
than temporary, noting that I-80 states keep each other abreast of
drug traffic along the corridor.

"We see the numbers going up in the surrounding states," Nesbitt
said. "But I think we need to see first-quarter figures before we can
say this is a trend."

Contributing: Derek Jensen.