SAN DIEGO - Seizures of cocaine along the U.S.-Mexico border in California nearly doubled last year amid a nationwide increase in the amount of drugs confiscated.
In fiscal year 2000, which ended Sept. 30, U.S. authorities at border crossings in California confiscated 18,430 pounds of cocaine, an 86 percent increase over 1999, Rudy Camacho, director of field operations for the Southern California Customs Management Center, said Thursday.
Total drug seizures at the five crossings along the 140-mile border rose nearly 5 percent by weight to 415,973 pounds of cocaine, marijuana, methamphetamine and heroin.
Nationwide, Customs seized a total of 1.54 million pounds of illegal drugs in fiscal year 2000. That marked an 11.6 percent increase over the 1.38 million pounds seized the previous year.
Camacho attributed the increased seizures of all drugs to improved enforcement, including additional training and intelligence gathering and technology to locate hidden contraband.
The reason for the increase in cocaine seizures was difficult to pinpoint. He speculated that it reflects a change in smuggling patterns by Mexican drug trafficking organizations.
''These people are always testing different spots so what may have been coming through another point of entry is shifting this way,'' Camacho said.
The seizures of cocaine in California accounted for 56 percent of all cocaine confiscated last year along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.
Heroin seizures fell 23 percent to 183 pounds; methamphetamine dropped 30 percent to 832 pounds; marijuana rose 3 percent to 396,528 pounds.
Drug arrests at the ports of entry in California's two border counties, San Diego and Imperial, totaled 3,491, a 21 percent drop from 1999.