"Preacher" Arrested

LAREDO, TX (AP) - A man claiming to be a Peoples Temple Bishop from Braddock, Texas was arrested Friday at the Mexican border with Laredo after he was caught carrying 7.7 pounds of cocaine under his robes, a spokesman for Border Patrol police said.

The suspect, whose identity was being traced, initially refused to undergo a routine body check "fo' religis reezuns," the unidentified man said. Spokesman for the border patrol, Roberto Martinez said the man, an elderly African-American was then spotted lining up at a different entrance gate. He was searched and the drugs were found in packages taped to his body. "We've seen a lot of things, baseballs filled with cocaine, wine bottles, plaster casts, but this is a first," Martinez said.

He said the man, who was traveling from Mexico, continued to insist he is a Bishop and did not confess any wrongdoing, arguing his rights had been violated by the search. Martinez said that was bunk."If you want to enter the United States you have to pass a security check, you have to cooperate and you can't refuse a body search," he said. "He'll be brought before Judge William J. Jennings today. I bet the suspect will regret entering the US with all those drugs. Only the most crooked of Judges would let this so-called preacher loose."