With so many local drug producers in prison, Utah law officers are seeing
more drugs, especially meth, coming through Salt Lake City International
Airport.

And while President Bush was signing the new airport security measure into
law Monday, members of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Salt Lake
City were boasting of some of their recent successes at the airport.

Two women were arrested at the airport Nov. 14 after DEA agents discovered
28 pounds of cocaine in two suitcases with false compartments. The women
arrived in Salt Lake City on a flight from California and were catching a
connector to Anchorage, Alaska, DEA Agent-in-Charge Barry Jamison said.

Jamison would not say what prompted agents to look in the women's suitcases.

Officers in Anchorage were contacted, and two men that the cocaine was
allegedly intended for were arrested, Jamison said. One man is believed to
be the main cocaine distributor for the Anchorage area, he said.

On Nov. 4, a man that agents said was a known methamphetamine producer flew
into the Salt Lake City International Airport to meet two friends.

The next day, agents, with help from South Salt Lake police, served a
search warrant near 700 West and 3800 South and found seven pounds of meth,
seven pounds of cocaine and more than 15 pounds of methyl sulfone, a common
cutting element for meth.

The U.S. Attorney's Office in Utah is prosecuting all three individuals,
U.S. Attorney for Utah Paul Warner said.

Shipping meth into Utah, a state known for its own large production of
meth, is a new trend DEA agents are seeing, Jamison said. While drug labs
locally have been decreasing, meth remains the No. 1 drug problem in Utah,
he said.

Many of the main local meth producers are now in prison, Jamison said, but
the demand for the drug remains high. That's why the amount of meth
attempted to be imported into the state is up, he said.

Salt Lake County Sheriff Aaron Kennard said the busts are just the "tip of
the iceberg" of the type of work the metro narcotics task force has been
conducting. It also is an indication of the amount of meth and cocaine
coming through the Salt Lake City International Airport, he said.

The busts were not the result of increased airport security since Sept. 11,
Kennard said.

However, the latest airport security measures signed Monday may put a dent
in drug trafficking through major airports, Kennard said. But it will not
stop drug trafficking. It will only prompt dealers to become more creative,
he said.

Even though law enforcement resources have been stretched in different
directions since Sept. 11, the war on drugs has not let up, Kennard said.

"Our advantage is the crooks are not that smart," Kennard said.