Border Truckers Declare Holey War Over Drilling Customs Service Steps Up Practice Of Punching Holes In Trailers To Look For Drugs

Imagine rain dripping through a brand new $24,000 trailer and seeping into a $1 million dollar load of electronics, causing widespread water damage and a huge debate over who is liable.

For U.S. truckers, furious at the U.S. Customs Service for stepping up its practice of drilling into trailers coming out of Mexico, that’s the worst fear.

Customs officials drill into truck trailers along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border to detect drugs that may be hidden in false bottoms and ceilings. While this questionably legal practice is not new, its increased use has angered truckers so much that they are beginning to file court claims.

“While I applaud their efforts to keep drugs out … to just randomly drill holes in trailers hoping to find some white powdered substance on the end of a drill bit is ridiculous,” said Bruce Stockton, vice president of safety for Contract Freighters Inc. in Joplin, Mo.

Truckers could accept the equipment damage if the drilling followed a search by drug-sniffing dogs that provided a probable cause, he said.

But there’s the lingering question of whether Customs has authority for such drilling.

“What is especially of concern to motor carriers is the lack of any specific regulation or statute allowing for this sort of procedure that inflicts significant damage to trailers,” the American Trucking Associations (ATA) wrote in a July 2 letter to Customs officials in Laredo, Texas.

Customs officials maintain they are within the law and have reason to drill.

“We are doing it more frequently. We’re not doing it at random,” said Maria Reba, the top Customs official for the southeast Texas border. Customs’ criteria is confidential, she said, but the increased drilling is based on better intelligence coming out of Mexico and at the border.

“We’re doing more because we’re finding more, so we’re intensifying our efforts,” she said.

During debate over the North American Free Trade Agreement, some critics complained that freer trade would mean a freer ride for drug smugglers using unknowing or knowing trucking companies.

Customs has been under fire for allegedly not finding sufficient quantities of drugs at the border. But the Federal Bureau of Investigation maintains a great portion of the drugs found in trucks in the interior of the United States are in trailers of Texas origin.

The drilling problem for truckers is most pronounced in Laredo, the principal crossing point for U.S.-Mexico trade. However, the tactic is used at other Texas crossing points such as Eagle Pass, Del Rio and Brownsville.

It is less of an issue in California, where Customs uses sophisticated X-ray machines to detect illicit narcotics.

Customs officials have started repairing the quarter-inch holes they drill into the front, top and bottom of trailers, sealing them with silicon. But companies like CFI say this isn’t enough.

The tactic also raises the question of who is liable for cargo damage, said Pete Montano, CFI’s marketing chief. He noted that the company in recent weeks has started filing tort claims for drilling damage to its new trailers, some of which cost $24,000.

Fortunately, he said, there hasn’t been any cargo damage so far.

“Who is going to be responsible for that claim?” asked Montano.

The dispute gets thornier when drilling occurs in refrigerated trailers, whose contents depend on fixed temperatures and humidity.

“What special consideration are they applying to the refrigerated units,” asked Linda Bauer-Darr, vice president of international operations for the ATA. “What does that do to the temperatures?”

Although California’s Otay Mesa border crossing, located near busy cross-border manufacturing centers, uses X-ray machines, Laredo is limited because of space problems. However, by next year there will be such a device at the nearby Colombia Solidarity International Bridge about 18 miles west of town.

Customs is testing an array of new technologies, including infrared cameras and IonTrack Itemiser Detectors - called electronic sniffers - which can trace levels of narcotics as small as 100-300 picograms (a picogram is a trillionth of a gram) on cargo, pallets, containers or trailers.

“We are definitely looking at far less intrusive means of inspections,” said Linda Willcox, a senior Customs manager involved in strategic problem solving.