$10,000 Reward Set to Catch Fruit Smugglers : Medflies: State urges use of hot line to report those with contraband responsible for infestation.

State agriculture officials took a new swat at the Mediterranean fruit fly Thursday by offering a $10,000 reward to anyone who helps catch fruit smugglers responsible for infestations of the insect.

Officials urged informants to anonymously call a toll-free telephone hot line if they know of anyone who has received uninspected fruit from such places as Hawaii, southern Mexico, and Central and South America.

Operators of the WeTIP hot line will pass along fruit-smuggler tips to the state’s Department of Food and Agriculture, which will immediately dispatch agricultural inspectors and police to suspects’ homes, officials said.

The reward money was donated to the state by professional growers, who stand to lose an estimated $205 million a year in crop damage, additional pesticide use and other costs if the Medfly gains a permanent foothold in California.

“We will get search warrants and our people will go with law enforcement officers to the location,” said Isi A. Siddiqui, assistant director of the department. “We’re talking about people who are bringing in fruit illegally or asking friends or relatives to mail it to them from places like Hawaii.”

Agricultural inspectors have trapped 268 Medflies in California since August. For the past six weeks, they have attempted to kill the flies by spraying malathion over communities where the insect has been trapped.

The aerial assault will have covered 130 square miles of Los Angeles and Orange counties next week after officials spray a 36-square-mile portion of the Garden Grove-Anaheim area. Officials said 200 California Conservation Corps members today will begin distributing circulars advising residents of the spraying plans.

State agriculture department spokeswoman Gera Curry said state officials decided to offer the reward through the 17-year-old privately run crime hot line after unsuccessfully appealing to Californians’ social conscience. Its number is (800) 78CRIME.

“People take contraband drugs seriously, but not contraband fruit,” she said.

She said officials hope to show the seriousness of sneaking uninspected fruit into California with television announcements. They will show a flower lei-bedecked woman standing in a police lineup as a voice warns, “You’re no longer a tourist. You’re a smuggler.”

B. J. Lewis, assistant regional director for the federal Department of Agriculture, said Hawaii residents who tip authorities off to suspected smugglers or fruit mailers also will be eligible to receive the reward.

Although the U.S. Department of Agriculture imposes a maximum $50 fine for smuggling fruit into California, state lawmakers are considering imposition of a $25,000 fine, officials told reporters at a Burbank news conference.

The current Medfly eradication program has so far cost the state and federal governments about $25 million.

Siddiqui said he is confident that malathion spraying will help wipe out the current Medfly infestation by June.

“The idea is to stop future infestations,” he said.