Drug Seizures Occurring at Record Pace : Border: Customs authorities attribute increased figures to stepped-up interdiction efforts.

Following a nationwide trend, drug seizures along the California-Mexico border are running at a record-breaking pace this year, the U.S. Customs Service announced Thursday.

Nearly 38,000 pounds of marijuana were seized by Customs inspectors at the San Diego sector’s five ports of entry between Oct. 1, the start of the fiscal year, and March 31, a 60% increase over the same period last year, Customs officials said.

Heroin seizures more than doubled, from 4.5 pounds to 10.1 pounds.

The amount of cocaine discovered by inspectors showed a decrease, falling from 9,306 pounds to 5,221 pounds, said authorities, who explained that the drop was due to an aberration. Last year’s record figures included a a single, 8,700-pound cocaine bust at Otay Mesa, the largest cocaine seizure ever made at a land border port of entry.

“Without a doubt, this will be a record year,” said Rudy Camacho, director for the San Diego district of the Customs Service.

Camacho attributed the increased numbers, in part, to stepped-up drug interdiction efforts, including the addition of 128 Customs inspectors to the San Diego district over the last 10 months.

The San Diego district also has 336 drug-sniffing dogs, more than three times the number just five years ago.

Some observers say that, despite the seizures and the attention draw to them by the federal government, increasing amounts of illicit drugs continue to make their way across the U.S.-Mexico border.

“The Customs Service hardly dents the amount of contraband coming into the United States, and too many people are suffering by way of inconvenience, loss of time, loss of money and loss of rights for the government to get such a small amount of drugs,” said Michael Pancer, a San Diego criminal defense attorney.

Pancer and others argue that the money spent on drug law enforcement could more productively be funneled toward education and drug-treatment programs.

Camacho argues for a balanced approach to fighting drugs.

“This is not a single-front war, by any stretch of the imagination. It’s not just interdiction, and it’s not just demand reduction, and it’s not just eradication, it’s a combination of those things,” Camacho said.

Seizures of cocaine across the country by the Customs Service are at a rate that could more than double last year’s record of 169,586 pounds, according to an internal report detailing seizures from Oct. 1 through the end of February says.

The rise in cocaine busts coincides with record cocaine production in South America during 1991, despite American-backed coca eradication efforts, officials said. Meanwhile, federal studies have shown a decline in casual cocaine use in the United States.

Customs agents are also looking at a bumper crop of heroin seizures this year nationwide, with 58% more of the narcotic confiscated so far this fiscal year than during the same period last year, the report showed. Last year’s 2,960 pounds seized was a five-year high.

Marijuana seizures by Customs agents are also on the rise this fiscal year, the second consecutive increase after at least four years of decline, the report said.

Hashish seizures in particular have skyrocketed by 37 times so far this year, even after last year’s tenfold increase in hashish confiscated by Customs agents, the report showed.

The Customs Service’s Pacific region, which includes San Diego and Imperial counties, has shown a 115% increase in cocaine seizures, a 51% rise in heroin confiscation and a 63% increase in marijuana so far this year.

Along with an increase in drug seizures in the San Diego sector over the last two years, two Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors and a Customs agent have been charged with conspiracies to smuggle drugs into the country through San Diego ports of entry.

The most recent case involved Ricardo Nunez Felix, a 34-year-old INS inspector arrested Feb. 11 and accused of accepting $250,000 in bribes from a Colombian drug ring to allow at least 50 carloads of cocaine and marijuana to pass through his inspection lane at the Calexico port of entry from November, 1991, to Jan. 29 of this year.

Two years ago, INS inspector Sergio Gonzalez was arrested for accepting bribes to wave through cars carrying drugs through Calexico. Also in 1990, David Henry Brown, a U.S. Customs employee in San Diego with access to sensitive computer records, admitted selling information about a drug investigation to a man with ties to drug dealers.

Drug Pipeline The quantity of drugs being seized by the U.S. Customs Service nationwide has risen greatly since the last fiscal year. These figures, which are given in pounds, cover Oct. 1 through February. Fiscal year to date

1991 1992 % increase Heroin 574.1 904.9 57.6% Cocaine 63,127.9 142,018.9 125.0% Marijuana 169,209.0 207,194.5 22.4%

The figures also rose in the San Diego sector. These figures cover Oct. 1 through March 31. Fiscal year to date

1991 1992 % increase Heroin 4.5 10.1 124.4% Cocaine 9,306* 5,221 -43.9% Marijuana 23,573 37,980 61.1%

* One drug seizure in 1991 recovered 8,700 pounds of cocaine, the largest ever at a roadside port of entry. Omitting that incident, the amount is up 761.6%. Source: U.S. Customs