Pubdate: Mon, 04 Jun 2001
Source: Sierra Vista Herald (AZ)
Copyright: 2001 Sierra Vista Herald
Contact:  http://www.svherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1379
Author: Cathy Murphy

DRUG SEIZURE RECORDS SET AT NACO, ARIZ. PORT

NACO, Ariz. - More than $7 million in illegal drugs were seized at the Naco 
Port of Entry during May, according to Port Director William Moloski.

Customs inspectors confiscated 4,637 pounds of marijuana valued at 
$5,564,400 and 111 pounds of cocaine with a street value of $1.6 million.

During the previous six quarters there were 14 seizures of marijuana that 
totaled 580 pounds.

"Our inspectors are doing a fantastic job, and I don't know if it's the 
culmination of all their hard work or if it's because the drug dealers 
chose this month to try to smuggle their drugs into the country through the 
Naco port," Moloski said.

He also credited the record seizures to the increase in the number of U.S. 
Border Patrol agents, and cooperation among various law enforcement 
agencies working on the border. Over the past few years, Moloski said high 
tech detection equipment installed at the port has made enforcement 
operations quicker. At Naco, there is now a machine that inspectors call 
the "buster" that can read the density of a door panel. Mirrors transmit 
images to computer screens inside the Customs office. The inspectors use 
fiber optic scopes to search in gas tanks and share an X-ray truck with the 
Customs office at Douglas.

Also new at the port is a computer generated referral machine, known as 
COMPEX. The system, which is headquartered in Washington, D.C., randomly 
selects vehicles based on a percentage of crossers. Sometimes COMPEX may 
send one out of 10 vehicles into the secondary inspection area, or it may 
select every 20th vehicle. On other days the system is not in operation and 
the inspectors on duty make the decisions on which vehicles need to be 
referred for additional inspection. "The drug dealers of today also have 
very sophisticated equipment and they watch what we are doing too, so the 
U.S. Customs Department tries to be as unpredictable as possible," the port 
boss said.

The high tech equipment makes it easier to serve the people who cross the 
border every day, such as the Mexican families who send their children to 
school in Naco, Ariz.

Moloski said only about 1 or 2 percent of the people crossing the border 
are violating the law. "Most of the people here may just be going to 
Safeway or coming over to go shopping and we want to make their crossing as 
quick and comfortable as possible."

Another part of the Custom inspectors' job is to track what is coming in 
and out of the country from the factories or malquiadores that have sprung 
up all along the international border.

At the Naco port, 35 to 80 trucks cross the border each day and in any 
24-hour period 800 to 900 cars are processed. There are 16 Customs 
employees at the port including 13 inspectors, two supervisors, a 
technician and a port director.

Also housed at the Naco Port are the offices of Immigration and 
Naturalization Services. Moloski said the INS deals primarily with people 
and immigration issues, while Customs deals with interdiction of drugs and 
other illegal commodities.

Sometimes people unknowingly break the law by bringing in too much liquor 
or fruit that is prohibited because it can be carrying insects or diseases. 
There are numerous free publications available at the port to advise the 
traveler about customs regulations and food and plant quarantines.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom