Word: lawmen
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...chilly South Texas afternoon, 20 federal and state lawmen sporting flak jackets and semiautomatic rifles descended on a secluded bungalow near the Rio Grande in Starr County. They arrested three men who were darting out the back. Inside, the cops found giant trash bags of marijuana. Suddenly the ceiling gave way from the weight of other people hiding in the bungalow. All told, 14 Mexicans were charged with drug possession, and 2,000 lbs. of dope were confiscated...
...raid last February was one of a mounting number of armed encounters along the Texas border between lawmen and well-organized, well-financed narcotics rings. As authorities have cracked down on smuggling in Florida, the Rio Grande valley has emerged as the hot corridor for drug runners. One-third of all the cocaine, marijuana and heroin now entering the U.S. from Mexico is believed to come across the valley...
...Lawmen on the border have high hopes for Alliance. "We will take the battle to the smuggler," pledges William Logan, Customs commissioner in the area. But others voice skepticism as to how soon they will get the promised men and gear. Some wonder whether much can be accomplished without a stronger crackdown on the largely unregulated casas de cambio that exchange dollars for pesos and are thought to often launder drug money along the Mexican border. Sixty or so have sprouted on the main street of San Ysidro, Calif., alone...
...seizures of drug dealers' assets. It is possible to string together statistics suggesting that the war on narcotics on the streets of U.S. cities shows promise of being won. What is not possible is to get a single law-enforcement officer to believe it. Instead, all over the country, lawmen wail that their best efforts are being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of drug traffic. "You can't say anything is working," admits Jim Goudy, commander of the Houston police narcotics division. In Boston, Deputy Superintendent William Celester concedes that raids on crack dens by newly organized police "impact teams...
Since tiny quantities of synthetic drugs can supply a user's habit for days, "one clandestine lab can spit out as many drugs as a foreign country," says David Smith, director of the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic. Last year California lawmen raided 235 illegal drug factories, but they say that for every lab hit, three others were missed...