Illegal Drug Seizures at Border Jump 16%
The amount of illegal drugs stopped at the U.S. border rose 16% in the last year, the Customs Service said.
Customs inspectors confiscated 1.79 million pounds of illegal drugs in fiscal year 2001, which ended Sept. 30. During the previous year, 1.54 million pounds were seized.
The figures include cocaine, heroin and other opiates, methamphetamine and marijuana, but not the hallucinogenic drug Ecstasy.
The increase in drugs seized last year occurred even as the total number of travelers going through customs declined.
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