Pubdate: Thu, 18 Oct 2001
Source: The Herald-Sun (NC)
Copyright: 2001 The Herald-Sun
Contact:  http://www.herald-sun.com
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1428
Author: AP

MEXICAN OFFICIAL FAULTS U.S. BORDER

MEXICO CITY -- Increased security along the U.S. border after the Sept. 11 
terrorist attacks in New York and Washington has made it harder for 
smugglers to move drugs onto American soil and increased cocaine use in 
Mexico, a police official said Wednesday.

Crime Prevention Director Pedro Jose Penaloza told a news conference that 
cocaine smugglers, afraid to cross a fortified U.S. border, have begun 
selling drugs at rock-bottom prices in the central states of San Luis 
Potosi, Aguascalientes, Queretaro and Guanajuato.

The states have long been considered part of the "smugglers' bridge to the 
U.S.-Mexican border," Penaloza said.

Penaloza said Mexico has become so saturated with cocaine that drug dealers 
in some locales are offering the usually high-priced narcotic at prices 
that are cheaper than the normal street price of marijuana.
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