Anonymous - 8-13-2005 at 12:58 AM
http://today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=oddlyEno...
Fri Aug 12, 2005
TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) - Mexican drug gangs are increasingly using tourist charter buses to smuggle large quantities of marijuana into southern
California, authorities say.
Since January, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, agents have seized 10 buses crammed with marijuana at the San Ysidro, California,
crossing between Tijuana and the United States, up from three in the whole of 2004.
"We are seeing a sharp increase in the use of chartered buses to smuggle narcotics from Mexico, although we are not sure why," Lauren Mack, a
spokeswoman for ICE in San Diego, said on Thursday.
"The only thing we know for sure is that there are a lot of spaces on a bus to hide large quantities of drugs," she said.
Agents at the port, which is the world's busiest land border with 2 million people crossing every year, have found loads of up to 700 pounds (318 kg)
of marijuana packed into spaces under bus floors, in roofs and even in toilets.
The buses, which shuttle tourists on charters on both sides of the border, have tended to be old, Mack said. All have had dual license plates
registered in California and Mexico.