Border Drug Trafficking Rebounds From Drop

Drug traffickers appear to have resumed business as usual across the Mexico-U.S. border, U.S. officials said in El Paso.

Security was tightened after the Sept. 11 attacks and drug seizures--a trafficking barometer--along the 2,000-mile border fell to 123 from Sept. 11 to Sept. 23, Customs Service figures show. Last year there were 227 seizures in the same period.

But since last Thursday, officials reported 159 drug seizures, up from 147 in the same period last year.

Customs officials observed the biggest post-attack decrease in Southern California--from 138 seizures to 54--while the decrease in South Texas was only slight.