Anonymous - 6-26-2005 at 02:58 PM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20050624-1...
June 24, 2005
SAN DIEGO ? A prescreened driver who passed a security background check was arrested with drugs in her car as she attempted to cross the U.S.-Mexico
border, U.S. Customs officials said Friday.
A suspicious Customs official stopped 21-year-old Jhuliana Aramis Cohen of Tijuana, Mexico in one of the SENTRI lanes at San Diego's San Ysidro
crossing.
Cohen was jailed Wednesday after a search turned up 202 pounds of marijuana in the trunk of her car.
About 80,000 pay up to $129 each to enroll in SENTRI, or Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection.
Adele Fasano, field operations director for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in San Diego, said despite "a very small number" of violations each
year, the majority of SENTRI participants were law-abiding travelers.
"Our vetting protocol is sound," Fasano said.
A transponder in SENTRI-registered vehicles beams passenger information to U.S. inspectors as the vehicles approach a booth, similar to prepaid toll
systems. If passengers' faces match those on file, they get less scrutiny than people in other lanes.
Earlier this week, Customs officials doubled the number of SENTRI lanes at the San Ysidro crossing following complaints that wait times were more than
an hour.
The Gull - 6-26-2005 at 06:50 PM
Did she not declare it?