MARIJUANA SEIZURES HAVE TRIPLED IN AREA

Marijuana seizures have tripled in the Houston area and are up 37 percent
statewide over last fiscal year, while heroin and cocaine confiscations
rose here but dropped overall in Texas, the U.S. Customs Service said
Tuesday.

"Marijuana is up just about everywhere," customs spokeswoman Judy Turner
said, and Houston remains a major drug hub. The figures are only for drugs
seized by the Customs Service.

In the East Texas region, which encompasses Houston, Dallas, the Gulf Coast
and Oklahoma, customs agents netted 10,154 pounds of pot this fiscal year
compared to only 3,370 last year. Statewide, they seized 265,605 pounds
this year compared to 194,129 pounds last year.

The majority came in through the West Texas and New Mexico region, but
nearly 40 percent was taken in South Texas, which is San Antonio south to
Brownsville and west to Del Rio. San Antonio Special Agent in Charge
Leonard Lindheim said bulky marijuana shipments are much easier to smuggle
over land.

Cocaine is not as bulky and often comes in through the Port of Houston. In
one June bust alone, agents at the port found 2,220 pounds hidden in
chlorine tanks.

Cocaine seizures are up 12 percent in this area and up 18 percent in West
Texas, but have plummeted 68 percent in South Texas from nearly 13,000
pounds to barely 4,000. Overall, they are down 24 percent.

Heroin seizures statewide have fallen 24 percent, but the locations of the
seizures have shifted considerably. South Texas has tumbled 81 percent;
West Texas is at a virtual standstill; and East Texas has skyrocketed 66
percent, more than half of the total haul coming from Houston.

Heroin usually comes through Bush Intercontinental Airport, packed in
condoms that smugglers have swallowed.

Customs agents have also upped the amount of cash seized statewide by 10
percent. Turner said some of the increase is from heightened investigation
of drug proceeds leaving the country, but a $5 million windfall came in the
back of a tractortrailer rig in West Texas. That alone tripled the
region's haul compared to last year.