Posted on 08/08/2005 2:21:22 PM PDT by SwinneySwitch
Laredo — More than 100 Mexican shoppers and a handful of American tourists were left standing as they waited for federal officials to reopen the Gateway to the Americas International Bridge Saturday night.
Federal authorities shut down Laredo’s four international bridges two times on Saturday after receiving two separate false bomb threats throughout the day.
Both threats turned out to be false, but federal officials said the timing had been poor.
A Thursday night battle between drug traffickers using heavy machine guns and rocket launchers prompted American federal officials to temporarily close the U.S. Consulate across the Rio Grande in Nuevo Laredo on Friday.
Four days before the fierce battle, federal officials closed Brownsville’s three international bridges for more than two hours after they received their first bomb threat in more than two years.
“You have to treat each threat seriously even though they are generally false,” said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Rick Pauza.
Although he could not be release exact figures for security reasons, Pauza said false bomb threats against international bridges are costly and more common in Laredo than other areas of the border.
Federal officials did not reveal how the calls came in on Saturday, but Pauza said bomb threats sometimes come in directly to the bridges or through the city’s 911 system.
“They are more common when school is in session,” he said.
During a typical bomb threat, Pauza said incoming traffic is stopped on both sides of the border while cars and pedestrians already on the bridges are processed through as normal.
Depending on the size of the bridge, Pauza said they can be inspected and cleared by K-9s and federal agents in as few as 20 minutes while others take longer.
Several pedestrians waiting for the Laredo bridge to reopen during the second threat Saturday night said they have become numb to the violence across the border and find the numerous false bomb threats on their international bridges tiresome.
One Mexican woman holding two shopping bags sighed as she waited to cross the bridge into Mexico on foot.
“I hope it doesn’t take too long,” she said. “Sometimes it can take more than an hour.”
Motorists showed equal impatience, as they had to endure ever-growing lines in their cars.
“This happens all the time,” complained one Mexican man who parked his car on the side of a downtown street to wait it out with his family.
Although arrests for the expensive and time-consuming pranks are rare, anyone who is convicted of making a false bomb threat at an international bridge could face five years in federal prison and up to a $250,000 fine under federal law.
According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement records, the most recent arrest for a making a false bomb threat was made at the Miami International Airport after two men made an inappropriate joke in October 2004.
schapa@brownsvilleherald.com
Haven't seen any of this in the MSM, Swinney. What will it take for this crisis to reach their news desks?
Our border and immigration problems look more and more like the Israeli/palestinian problem all the time.
Los dos Laredos ping!
Please FReepmail me if you want on or off this South Texas/Mexico ping list.
All of this is happening in my backyard, so to speak. What is even more troubling to me is that by and large, these people who have to deliver these drugs by and large travel up and down I-35, which is the main thoroughfare that bisects TX, and is a very crowded highway.
Lots of opportunity for lots of bad things to happen.
Good, blow those bridges so those mexicns can't come in with their raggedy ass trucks that make our roads less safe and that bring in cannibus.
Make it so they have ot come across the river on foot.
My tiny Michigan town got a taste of the drug war more than 20 years ago.
A car carrying two illegal aliens from Chile crashed and burst into flames due to the 50 gallons of rubbing alcohol in the back seat. Witnesses said the first car was being chased by a second car with 3 hispanic men inside who fired more than a dozen rounds into the burning car.
When the two dead men were identified they found 3 more Chileans dead in a nearby home. Those people had been executed and thier throats were cut and their tongues pulled through the cut. (I believe they call that a Columbian necktie)
The house was so contaminated with cocaine and other toxic substances that it was torn down.
" 911, how may I help you? "
"Si, I have placed a bomb on the Laredo bridge."
"Senor, american demolition teams destroyed all three international bridges yesterday, they no longer exist."
" They are not there anymore?"
" No sir, there is no longer any traffic between Mexico and the United States."
" But how will I get my drugs across the border? "
" Not my problem senor.... Goodbye.."
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