Posted on 10/20/2001 2:38:54 PM PDT by FITZ
Extra security that slowed traffic at all El Paso international bridges Friday was the result of a terrorist bomb threat, Mexican officials said.
Two uniformed Mexican agents, one with the Preventive Federal Police and one with customs, said cars were monitored at the foot of each bridge because of a tip that terrorists wanted to "blow up" a bridge along the U.S.-Mexico border. The officers did not give their names.
About 1 p.m., Mexican and U.S. authorities began restricting the number of vehicles allowed on the El Paso-Juárez bridges to about 50 to 70 at a time. Usually, hundreds of vehicles are on the bridges at any given time.
The additional security measures, including police stationed near the undersides of the bridges in both countries, were expected to last through Friday night, said Leticia Zamarripa, public information officer for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in El Paso.
Zamarripa said that the agency had received a bomb threat but that the threat did not mention any specific port of entry in the El Paso district.
"Bomb threats are relatively common at the international bridges," she said. She acknowledged, however, that the response to Friday's threat was unusual.
"This is different from the way we have handled previous bomb threats because the nature of the threat is different. The information we received about this threat is different," Zamarripa said. She did not elaborate.
She said the number of vehicles allowed onto the bridges was restricted "because if anything were to happen, we wouldn't want to have the whole bridge congested."
All ports of entry remained open Friday, and U.S. officials were operating under the Threat Level 1 alert, the maximum-security status that has been in place since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Zamarripa said.
El Paso Police Department spokesman Sgt. Al Velarde said patrols were increased around the bridges. He did not say whether the extra security was related to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"All I can say is that there is a threat," he said.
The security precautions did not appear to be causing major delays for motorists Friday afternoon, Zamarripa said.
At 4 p.m., it took about two hours to drive into El Paso over the Bridge of the Americas, and the wait was about an hour at the Paso del Norte Bridge, Zamarripa said. At 4 p.m. Thursday, the waiting times had been an hour and 40 minutes at the Bridge of the Americas and one hour at the Paso del Norte Bridge, she said.
But later Friday, Eastsider Margarita Chacon said she waited about three hours to get to the monitoring checkpoint at the Mexican side of the Bridge of the Americas before crossing the bridge for inspection.
"They just told us that there was a bomb threat. That's all they said," the visibly concerned Chacon said. "I wish I didn't have to cross, but my home is over there."
Gustavo Reveles Acosta may be reached at greveles@elpasotimes.com
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