Pubdate: Tue, 25 Jun 2002
Source: Springfield News-Leader (MO)
Copyright: 2002 The Springfield News-Leader
Contact:  http://www.springfieldnews-leader.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1129
Author: Laura Bauer

POST-TERROR AIR SECURITY DRIVES DRUGS ONTO HIGHWAYS

4th-Largest Bust In U.S. History - 10,000 Pounds Of Pot - Foretells Busy 
Summer For Ozarks Drug Officers

The driver knew he was busted.

Phelps County sheriff's deputies buzzed around the tractor-trailer he'd 
been driving. A drug dog showed intense interest in the stacks of metal 
boxes in the cargo area.

The 28-year-old confessed: "There's 1,000 pounds of marijuana in there." 
The deputies soon corrected the Illinois man's math - he was hauling 10 
times that amount.

Stuffed into the 16 boxes seized on the Interstate 44 corridor was nearly 
five tons of Mexican marijuana, wrapped in bundles of clear plastic. It was 
the state's largest seizure ever - the fourth-largest in U.S. history.

The record-setting bust was the eighth load snagged by Phelps County 
officers off I-44 in less than three weeks, shattering the once bankable 
notion that summer months are slow for drug interdictions. But, in the 
first summer since the Sept. 11 terror attacks, everything is different - 
even along the secret tributaries of the drug trade.

Tightened security at airports has pushed narcotics usually transported by 
plane onto the roadways. Narcotics officers who work the drug pipelines 
that snake from Texas out east, typically diverted from the highways in the 
summer for other drug duties, are now staying put, anticipating weeks of 
more stops, more busts and more drugs.

"People are afraid to fly," said Sgt. Dan Banasik of the Missouri Highway 
Patrol. "Some would smuggle pills or cocaine, you can 'body carry' that 
easy. And used to be they could put it in their suitcases and no one ever 
checked. They'll fly down to get the drugs but they won't fly back."

Add to that: I-40 through Oklahoma is shut down because a barge slammed 
into a bridge in May. That spells a busy I-44 through Missouri. Drug 
seizures are also up along I-20 and I-10 in Mississippi and along 
interstates in Iowa, Nebraska and Arkansas.

According to numbers released by the Missouri Highway Patrol's Troop D 
office, which includes the Springfield area, seizures are up. For the first 
half of 2002, troopers seized 40 loads compared to 35 for the same period 
last year.

And the loads are bigger, they say. Officers seized 10,104 pounds of 
marijuana this year compared to only 2,000 pounds last year. They 
confiscated 500 pounds of cocaine during the first half of 2002 compared to 
98 pounds during the same period last year.

Change could be on the horizon, though - also sparked by post-terror 
homeland defense strategies. Tighter immigration patrols have made life 
tougher for smugglers along the Texas border, forcing some to change their 
routes. Many smugglers are choosing to bypass the Midwest, bringing their 
drugs over by boat into Miami, then trucking them up through Louisville.

Officers with the Transportation Department in Louisville reported more 
seizures than normal these past few months - but not a big enough increase 
to indicate that all trafficking has moved east.

"We could start seeing less drugs coming through the Midwest, coming 
through Missouri. ... Louisville could begin to see more loads," said 
Shirley Armstead, spokeswoman for the Drug Enforcement Administration out 
of St. Louis. "They are now doing a more thorough job of checking loads 
coming through Texas. ... They have more guards at the border."

But, for the moment, the drug trade is still busily pumping along 
Missouri's highways.

"Normally, you can count on a slowdown in the summer," said Sgt. Mike 
Cooper, who supervises interdiction officers with the Missouri Highway 
Patrol and narcotics officer with COMET. "It just hasn't happened yet."

Three Sundays ago, Phelps County deputies shut down their checkpoint after 
just two hours. By then, deputies already were processing two loads of 
marijuana, which included that mammoth haul - just under 10,000 pounds - 
that still has narcotics officers across the nation talking.

"It was one heck of a morning," said Sheriff Don Blankenship.

Fear, then anger

The driver gave himself away by turning around.

He was going back for gas, he told Deputy Dave Rightnower. But the logbook 
showed he'd just made a stop a few miles back. Plus the truck had plenty of 
fuel, enough that deputies would later drive it to Chicago without needing 
to fill up.

Outside the truck, the man acted nervous - "His hands were shaking," 
Rightnower said - but deputies don't believe the driver was lying when he 
told them he was only carrying 1,000 pounds.

"They had paid him by the pound," Rightnower said.

When the driver realized he was ripped off, that he was really carrying 
9,668 pounds, he got angry.

"And he was willing to do something about it."

Four Phelps County officials, including the sheriff, went on to Chicago to 
deliver the load. It's a part of the bust that authorities don't often get 
to do because drivers won't cooperate.

When that occurs, authorities feel they aren't able to make an impact 
because the real players aren't caught. This time though, nine people were 
arrested in the Chicago area for drug trafficking.

"This one turned out real well," Blankenship said.

Border crackdown

Though amazed by a cache of marijuana weighing as much as a dump truck, 
many were surprised so much could make it into the country.

In the months since Sept. 11, security at the Texas borders has been 
emphasized.

More guards have been added to the Border Patrol and more INS agents are on 
duty. X-ray machines have been set up to scrutinize loads and officers with 
the Texas Department of Safety are working overtime.

In the first few months following the terrorist attacks, border patrol 
agents saw a decrease in drug seizures. Some speculate that's because 
smugglers shied away knowing that security had increased.

Alfonso Moreno, patrol agent in charge of intelligence for the Border 
Patrol in Texas, said seizures are down 4 percent this year. From Oct. 1 to 
May 31 they had 730 seizures at the border compared to 761 the year before.

"For awhile we saw a change, it was much slower," Moreno said. "But the 
criminal element is going to hold out and see if they can wait you out. 
They are going to have to get their drugs out some way."

Through the months, the numbers have see-sawed. In March, seizures were up 
36 percent compared to last year. Other months have been way down.

With 1,200 miles of the 1,900-mile U.S.-Mexican border fronting Texas, the 
Lone Star State's officials say checkpoints are vital.

And Armstead estimates a checkpoint at the border is worth three along the 
pipeline.

That's why in Texas communities like Laredo, a tighter line has been drawn, 
said Laredo Mayor Betty Flores - even before Sept. 11.

She and other city leaders have asked for more agents and more equipment 
and a stronger set of procedures in the months before the terrorist 
attacks. Now they have much of what they need.

"Now we have better searches, more precise searches. ... They're not just 
searching everybody," Flores said in a telephone interview from her Texas 
office.

"If they stop 10 cars now, 2 or 3 percent of the time they are going to 
find something because they have information on that vehicle."

Times used to be much different, she said.

"Every agent that came to Laredo was Rambo waiting to do something," the 
mayor said. "It was terrible. ... We have good, experienced agents 
searching now."

'A ripple effect'

Missouri officers know that security at the borders is more intense. So it 
seems only logical that some drug traffickers would change their route.

But they also know that many haven't. They have too much money and contacts 
invested to move from I-40 or I-44 in the Midwest.

"I think drugs are still out there being run - it's evident by the Phelps 
County stop," said Cpl. Dan Bracker, Missouri Highway Patrol spokesman for 
Troop D.

"I don't think drug carriers will be extinct on Interstate 44. There might 
be fewer loads for awhile, it might be like that for two years, but they'll 
go back to their ways.

"It's not that we've let our guard down now," Bracker continued. "In 
Louisville, they need to be on their guard looking."

No problem, said Maj. David Herald of the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. 
Six officers with motor vehicles work I-65 and will continue to search for 
drugs or anything that could be used for mass destruction. In recent 
months, they've begun to realize that Louisville may be playing a larger 
role in transportation than in years past.

"We've seen more seizures since Sept. 11," Herald said. "I think there's 
always a ripple effect when something like that happens."

As law enforcement has refocused efforts to people who smuggle contraband 
or hazardous waste, it's only reasonable to think they'll get more narcotics.

"For officers who do good road interviews of people capable of mass 
destruction, when you do that you overlap into drug interdiction," Herald 
said. "I think drug smugglers realize more people are attempting to be 
aware of what's going on."

And as they change their routes and behaviors, law enforcement will follow 
suit. The goal is to be a step ahead.

"We'll adapt," Cooper said. "We'll do whatever it takes to get the job done."
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MAP posted-by: Ariel