MORE BUSTS AT KENNEDY

The amount of drugs seized at Kennedy Airport has risen sharply so far this
year, U.S. Customs Service figures show.

Officials don't know if it's because drug traffickers, foiled by tighter
borders since Sept. 11, are growing more desperate, or if inspectors are
simply getting better, but authorities are netting twice as much heroin and
Ecstasy as they did during the same period in 2001.

That increase is fueled largely by swallowers - people who ingest balloons
or condoms filled with drugs in order to sneak them into the country
undetected.

Inspectors said it's possible that couriers are more inclined to swallow
drugs because, since Sept. 11, more luggage is being searched.

From Oct. 1, 2001, to May 1, 2002, more than 200 "drug mules" were caught
at the airport - an increase of more than 65 percent from the year before,
officials said.

"We've certainly increased the number of examinations that we do, and that
is with an eye toward anti-terrorism," said Robert Meekins, assistant area
director of customs operations at Kennedy. "Certainly anti-terrorism is our
No. 1 priority right now, but narcotics are at the top of the list."

Inspectors at Kennedy make more heroin and Ecstasy seizures than at any
other port in the country. (More cocaine is found at Miami International
Airport, but Kennedy is No. 2.)

Not surprisingly, the increase in drug seizures was seen not only locally,
but nationwide.

From Oct. 2, 2001, to April 1, 2002, nationwide, more than 3,252 pounds of
heroin were discovered - 72 percent more than the same seven months the
year before; cocaine was also up by 34 percent during the same period,
according to the Customs Service.

Immediately after Sept. 11, drug seizures on all the country's borders
dropped precipitously - a decrease officials attributed to traffickers
trying to wait out increased security. Some believe that since security has
not relaxed to pre-Sept. 11 levels, traffickers are simply growing more
reckless.

"We're not sure what their thinking is," said Sam Stabile, chief inspector
of Kennedy's Passenger Enforcement Rover Team. "I don't know if Sept. 11
changed things or not."

Experts estimate customs intercepts about 10 percent of the drugs entering
the country, though customs officials said it is impossible for them to
guess how much is slipping through the cracks.