U.S. Unveils New Operation to Crack Down on Drug Smuggling

A new federal program designed to crack down on drug smugglers includes a proposal to send Customs Service helicopters across the border to ferry Mexican police as they battle drug traffickers.

The program, Operation Hard Line, also calls for the addition of 40 to 80 Customs special agents on the Mexican border as well as computers, X-ray machines and video cameras to assist inspectors and agents, according to a Customs Service outline obtained by the Associated Press.

“Hard Line is a long-term, sustained approach that will disrupt and deter narcotics from arriving at our Southwest border ports of entry,” the document said.

The operation is scheduled to be unveiled today by national drug policy czar Lee Brown and Customs Service Commissioner George Weise during a visit to the border near San Diego.

The planned announcement comes on the heels of a sharp decline in drug seizures from commercial vehicles passing through Customs checkpoints on the border. In fiscal 1994, Customs seized 1,765 pounds of cocaine from commercial traffic--primarily in large semitrailers. That compares to 7,708 pounds in fiscal 1993, according to Customs records.

The document said the agency will propose using Customs Service Blackhawk helicopters, which would be based in the United States, to carry “Mexican counter-drug forces to arrest traffickers and seize drugs.” It added that Hard Line will focus on developing sources of information about drug smuggling at ports of entry as well as targeting vehicles and cargo used by traffickers to move drugs across the border.

Current targeting efforts have come under sharp criticism, even within Customs. A recent internal analysis by Customs--cited by The Times--concluded that targeting procedures were “apparently in need of improvement given the huge number of examinations without success.”