Up, Up And Away

By PAUL GRAY/

The radar-balloon perimeter that the U.S. Customs Service has been trying to raise along the Mexican border to detect drug smuggling is not flying high. Last December one of the Texas-based gas bags broke loose from its tether near Eagle Pass and began drifting south, alarming federal officials with the prospect of an international incident with Mexico. A shift in the wind pushed the device back into Texas, where it was deflated by remote control. In April a balloon at Marfa, Texas, was buffeted on the ground by winds and self- destructed. Another balloon that was due to be installed at Rio Grande City, Texas, has not yet been floated. That leaves just three aloft. But even when these helium-inflated giants are trouble-free, on-line agents question their effectiveness. They cannot be flown in bad weather, and the drug activity they pinpoint is often in remote terrain that undermanned law- enforcement agencies must spend hours to reach. When they get there, the dopers are long gone.

With reporting by DAVID ELLIS