http://www.swtexaslive.com/node/2689

Number of Heroin, Cocaine busts increasing along Texas-Mexico border
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December 18, 2006
By Joe Hyde
Publisher


Laredo, TX – Cocaine and heroin seizures are increasing rapidly along the Texas-Mexico border according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Officers at eight South Texas ports of entry.

In FY 2006, CBP Officers working at eight ports of entry extending from Brownsville to Del Rio seized a total of 86,526 pounds of narcotics worth $529 million.

Marijuana seizures led the overall narcotics totals by weight, but CBP saw significant increases in hard narcotics seizures in South Texas, vastly increasing total value. In FY 2006, CBP Officers seized 71,180 pounds of marijuana. Cocaine seizures increased by 35 percent, improving to 14,278 pounds seized in FY 2006 compared to 10,588 pounds in FY 2005. Heroin seizures spiked up by nearly 43 percent to 190 pounds, up from 133 pounds last fiscal year. Methamphetamine seizures increased nearly 6 percent to 878 pounds in FY 2006 compared to 831 pounds in FY 2005. CBP Officers saw their largest increase of all in currency seizures. They seized $12 million in unreported currency in FY 2006, skyrocketing 110 percent over the $5.7 million in currency seized in FY 2005.

Besides narcotics, CBP in South Texas also reported annual results of its immigration and agriculture enforcement. CBP Officers in FY 2006 seized 13,870 fraudulent documents, down from 16,196 in FY 2005. CBP Officers posted a slight decrease in expedited removals, processing 6,297 in FY 2006 compared to 6,785 in FY 2005. CBP Officers also processed 8,572 applications for asylum, up 17 percent from the 7,298 applications for asylum processed in FY 2005.

CBP Officers and Agriculture Specialists in FY 2006 intercepted 6,723 actionable pests. CBP Officers also made 110,009 interceptions of quarantined plant material and intercepted 81,891 pounds of quarantined meat materials in FY 2006. Plant material interceptions in FY 2006 improved nearly 5 percent over the 105,133 plant items intercepted in FY 2005. Quarantined meat materials showed the largest increase, improving by 12 percent to 81,891 pounds compared to the 72,889 pounds intercepted in FY 2005.

“Our Officers excelled in Fiscal Year 2006 in the seizure of unreported currency, nearly doubling last year’s totals and in the interdiction of harder narcotics, showing 35 and 44 percent increases in cocaine and heroin, respectively” Leticia Moran, CBP Director of Field Operations, Laredo, said. “As we focus on our No. 1 priority, keeping terrorists and their weapons out of this country, we have noticed that our continued vigilance has yielded significant gains in our traditional enforcement missions.”

Fiscal Year 2006 began October 1, 2005 and ended Sept. 30, 2006.