|
|
Article: Smugglers taint intercoastal waterways around Texas, Florida.
- Article from:
- The Monitor (McAllen, TX)
- Article date:
- February 24, 2005
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2005 The Monitor. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
Byline: James Osborne
Feb. 24--PORT ISABEL -- For 1,109 miles between Brownsville and the Florida Panhandle, the Intercoastal Waterway provides sheltered passage for commercial ships piloting around the Gulf of Mexico.
But the bay system it cuts through, a mazelike and loosely patrolled mixture of mangrove swamps, small, uninhabited islands and shallow sandbars, has made the Texas leg of the channel a haven for smugglers.
"I can't tell you how bad we're getting beat on the intercoastal waterways," said Will Glasby, the head of the McAllen office of U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
"You get into the waterway and head north of the ...