2 U.S. Border Inspectors Held in Corruption Probes : Immigration: Customs official is arrested after 3 vans with 68 people inside are stopped. INS agent allegedly forced women to have sex with him.

SAN DIEGO — Exposing two cases of alleged corruption among U.S. border inspectors in the last two days, federal agents have arrested a customs inspector on suspicion of immigrant smuggling and an immigration inspector for investigation of smuggling, sexual abuse and bribery, authorities said Friday.

Federal agents Friday arrested an Immigration and Naturalization Service inspector assigned to San Ysidro who allegedly pressured women crossing the border to have sex with him in exchange for returning confiscated documents, authorities said.

A U.S. Customs Service inspector was arrested Thursday night after roving inspectors with a dog discovered three vans packed with a record 68 immigrants waiting to pass through his inspection lane at the San Ysidro port of entry. Investigators suspect the inspector was in league with the smugglers because the vans were spotted at his house this week by Border Patrol anti-smuggling agents, authorities said.

The case appears to bear out predictions that a Border Patrol crackdown launched here earlier this month would push smugglers into new strategies such as sneaking illegals through the legal port of entry.

“We believe the smugglers are going to be challenging us at the port of entry and we are going to be up to the task,” said U.S. Atty. Alan Bersin.

Both cases also show the potential for brazen misconduct among U.S. inspectors fighting the illegal flow of immigrants and drugs at the busiest border crossing in the world.

Earlier this week, another INS inspector was charged with beating a border-crosser and filing a false report about the incident.

The INS and Customs Service share enforcement duties at ports of entry. At least two customs inspectors and five INS inspectors have been charged with crimes during the past five years, authorities said.

Guy Henry Kmett, 37, an eight-year veteran of the Customs Service, was arrested Thursday night in connection with the sophisticated smuggling ring, Bersin said, but the investigation is continuing.

The 68 illegal immigrants were packed into the three Ford vans intercepted south of Kmett’s booth at the crowded international crossing about 6:15 a.m. The group of men, women and teen-agers included Central Americans, Mexicans, an Ecuadorean and an Egyptian.

The obviousness of the attempt raised suspicions immediately, officials said. Coincidentally, Border Patrol anti-smuggling agents working on a separate investigation this week had followed the same vans to Long Beach and to Kmett’s house in Chula Vista. The agents determined Thursday through utility records that Kmett lived at the house, officials said.

But according to a federal source, authorities did not connect the two cases until an informant saw the seized vans on San Diego TV news Thursday afternoon and called a Border Patrol agent.

Friday’s arrest of INS Inspector Frederick L. Toothman resulted from an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of Inspector General.

Toothman, 49, allegedly preyed on at least seven female border-crossers who were sent to him after inspectors confiscated their documents as suspicious or fraudulent, authorities said. Toothman’s job was to review such cases.

On Aug. 15, he allegedly told a Mexican woman that she would have to have sex with him to get her border-crossing card back. He drove her to a Chula Vista motel where they had sex, then returned the card and let her stay in the United States, the complaint said.