Evening star., 1938-01-16
AIR SMUGGLING
IN j. S. CURBED
Small Band of Coast Guard
Planes Active on All
Borders.
Bv ALICE ROGERS HAGER.

Coast Guard eyes IN the sky are
watching with redoubled alertness over
borders OF the United States, keeping
aloft an invisible no admittance" sign
for the gangs that would smuggle in
cargoes Of narcotics. of bootleg alcohol
and OF aliens outside the quotas.
It has just been learned that sur
vey OF the Mexican border was recently
completed by the Coast Guard and the
customs service, with the result that
most points Of contact between aerial
smugglers are now known. as we'll as
many landing fields and routes. The
trick is to catch the wary birds" in
action.
There are still active air patrol sta
tions at Miami and Biloxi. but the
real work has moved west to Ell Paso
and San Diego. Other stations are To-
Gated at Seattle. at Salem. Mass; at
Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, at
Charlestown, s. c.. at Honolulu and in
Alaska.
1t Is the Mexican border, however,
that Is the warm spot" nowadays. To
the south Of that long. ridden
line. opium and marihuana are grown
and aliens from other shores look
longingly into the vast, rich territory
Of the States.
Night flying is suspected. and the
method is interesting. South of the
border, the intruder, in a powerful,
fast ship, will throttle down his engines
at high altitude, and. with no lights
showing, glide across the danger
area where the patrol is on duty. Once
past the lines, he can turn on his power
again and make for mis- destination
with very little danger of being caught.
In Honolulu special patrol meets
al surface vessels coming in from
the Orient and shepherds them to
the docks. 1t is pet habit of the
dope carriers particularly to drop q
waterproof eontainer overheard, at
tached to buoy, at given SPOT
onshore where it can be picked up
later by motor boats or fishing craft.
The vigilant Coast Guard planes. cir
cling aloft, put a bad crimp in this
sort OF business. especially as they are
still on the job when the vessel again
leaves port, bound for open sea.
Similar work is done off the Massa-
chusetts coast
On the Canadian border Lieut.. G.
H. Bowerman is at present doing
q survey job in the Montana area,
hying members of the customs border
patrol IN a plane equipped with skis,
to discover the extent of the newly
developed cattle running.
One of the other most active ot-
cupations of the service right now
Is, oddly enough. being carried on
inland. Liquor running from abroad
may have ceased for lack of profit.
but the good old moon of the still
variety goes right on shining in the
Southern mountain regions. Only
the hated "revenuers" these days are
on wings and, with the falling of
the leaves from protecting forest
boughs, over $50 stills have been
located from the air by agents of
the alcohol tax unit, flying in Coast
Guard ships.
With "guessed-at" figure between
S50,000,000 and S100 100000 worth of
narcotics coming into the United
States annually. the Importance of
any means of prevention of the
tramc Is evident. 1t would be even
more extensive. as would be smuggling
Of other contraband. were it not for
the preventive work of the little band
OF b0-odd Coast Guard planes.
(Ccpyright. 1888. by the North Amert.,,
Newspaper Alliance, 1nc.)