TEXAS DRUG BUST FUELS BOUNTY RUMOR AGAINST CUSTOMS OFFICERS

LAREDO, Texas - An apparent bounty on the heads of U.S. Customs
Service agents after a $7 million marijuana bust in Brownsville has
pushed federal officers into a state of high alert, officials said.

A verbal advisory about the rumor of a bounty that could reach
$200,000 was circulated to border law-enforcement agencies Monday,
said Tomas Zuniga, a spokesman with the Immigration and Naturalization
Service in Dallas.

"We did pass the word along to our people on the border - to be on the
alert that there are rumors that a threat has been issued regarding
persons unknown over a certain bust that occurred last week," he said.
"This was a big bust. Whenever you hurt someone that deeply, they're
going to try to get even with you."

The threat apparently was made against Harlingen Customs officers, who
declined to comment.

Five residents of Mexico were arrested after Customs officers seized
8,700 pounds of marijuana at a Brownsville home, police said.

Customs officials said in a statement Wednesday that they were aware
of threats and warned other agencies, but that the department "is not
in receipt of information relating to a bounty being announced by any
drug-smuggling operations" connected to the bust.

Border agents are accustomed to such threats, but they take the
threats seriously when they appear to be credible, Zuniga said. The
bounty rumors came from sources on both sides of the border, officials
said. U.S. investigators say they can't comment on who might be behind
the threats.

The alert comes at the end of a banner year for drug seizures by Texas
border agencies.

Between September 2000 and September 2001, Customs officers seized
310,807 pounds of marijuana, 34 percent more than last year. Heroin
seizures, totaling 213 pounds this year, were 10 times greater than
last year's total of 21 pounds, Customs officials say.