In the first four months of 1988, Utah agents have seized $28.5 million in cocaine - $8 million more than in 1986, and $50.8 million in marijuana - more than twice the amount of two years ago, Gov. Norm Bangerter said Monday.
Bangerter, addressing a Narcotics Officer Training Conference, also said the state's "Operation Pipeline" seizes more land-transported drugs than any other state in the nation."Every 621/2 hours, a pipeline arrest is made in Utah," he said. "For a state of our size to produce such a tremendous result is a testimony to your dedication and skill."
The governor also pointed to the successes of a special airport drug unit formed through a cooperative effort of the Utah Department of Public Safety, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County and the federal Drug Enforcement Agency.
"In its first year of operation, that unit convicted 19 drug smugglers and seized nearly $400,000 in drugs and over $130,000 in cash."