Drug Seizures Dramatically Increase At Border

Drug Seizures Increase At El Paso Ports Of Entry

Martina Valverde-KFOX Morning News Reporter
Posted: 1:11 am MDT June 3, 2011Updated: 7:28 am MDT June 3, 2011

EL PASO, Texas -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials said drug smugglers are getting more creative about ways to get drugs across the border, but it isn't paying off. Hidden in every part of the car from gas tanks to even inside pictures of Jesus Christ, drug smugglers are trying to sneak past U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers, but their attempts have been unsuccessful according to new numbers.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson, Roger Maier, reports to the Associated Press, agents have stopped 491 pounds of cocaine from January to May from making its way across the border. That weight is compared to the 221 pounds taken during the same time last year.

Marijuana seizures are up too. 32,000 pounds have been intercepted at the border this year. That amount was 25,000 last year.
"It's important that our officers are finding it here, stopping it at our ports of entry before it gets anywhere within our communities," Ruben Jauregui, of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency.

That has been good news for El Paso police. While seizures are up at the borders, they have lessened in the city. KFOX 14 media partners, The El Paso Times, report El Paso police took 24 pounds of cocaine from January to April in 2010. This year that number is only 3.7 pounds.

Anti-narcotics agents tell the Times, smugglers have been transporting smaller drug loads that allow for easier concealment and lessen the risks of large losses, but once in town they have to stash them, and police believe there are hundreds of stash houses in town. Indicators could be rental homes, unkempt yards, attached garages and neighbors who keep to themselves and are not seen on a daily basis. Other signs to look out for are different vehicles that come to the house, especially trucks or cars with out of town license plates or paper "buyer" or "dealer" license plates and neighbors who don't put their trash out. Police said the biggest sign to look out for is the lack of normalcy.

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