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  1. #1
    Senior Member mapwife's Avatar
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    Drug seizures on border soar (Good hard working immigrants)

    Published: 07.10.2006

    Drug seizures on border soar
    Larger number of agents, bigger illegal loads cited
    By Eric Swedlund
    ARIZONA DAILY STAR
    Some loads intercepted this year
    ● Examples of large drug seizures this year in Southern Arizona:
    l Jan. 23 — Border Patrol agents responding to a report of illegal entrants west of Nogales followed a series of footprints to a group of smugglers, who escaped back into Mexico. The group left behind three assault rifles and 482 pounds of marijuana and hashish worth $500,000.
    l Jan. 27 — Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint on Interstate 19 discovered 124 bundles of marijuana in a semi truck. The 2,598 pounds of pot had an estimated street value of $2.1 million. The driver, a resident alien, was arrested.
    l Jan. 30 — Agents patrolling near Lochiel east of Nogales noticed a suspicious truck and found 81 bundles of marijuana in a hidden compartment. The bust yielded 1,641 pounds of pot, valued at $1.2 million. The driver, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested.
    l Feb. 2 — A Customs and Border Protection helicopter pilot spotted several vehicles driving into the United States illegally in Potrero Canyon west of Nogales. While attempting to evade the helicopter, one truck rolled and agents found 83 bundles of marijuana inside, weighing 1,938 pounds, with a street value of $1.6 million. The driver escaped.
    l Feb. 13 — Border Patrol agents found 4,926 pounds of marijuana valued at $3.9 million in two stolen vehicles that entered the country illegally near Nogales.
    l April 12 — Border Patrol agents found two stolen trucks in a remote area south of Arizona 86. The trucks were packed with 3,835 pounds of marijuana, valued at $3.1 million.
    Pounds seized
    ● Border Patrol Tucson sector drug seizures (in pounds)
    l 2003: 362,351
    l 2004: 446,754
    l 2005: 489,898
    l 2006: 543,740 (through July 5; fiscal year ends Sept. 30)
    A steady rise in illegal-drug seizures along the border in Arizona has taken an even sharper turn this year, with smugglers attempting to move larger dope loads to counter an increase in federal agents.
    Officials are crediting more manpower along the border, particularly a major increase in Border Patrol agents over the last three years, with the spike in drug seizures. Also cited are improved surveillance technologies and a shift toward seamless multi-agency interdiction strategies.
    And with thousands of National Guard troops slated to assist border agents, Mexican smuggling organizations are likely mounting an effort to move as many drug loads as possible across the border before it gets more difficult, officials said.
    Agents in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector have seized 543,740 pounds of drugs through July 5, up 11 percent from the 489,898 total seized in the 2005 fiscal year. At that pace, the Border Patrol could end the 2006 fiscal year Sept. 30 with seizure amounts up 48 percent from the previous year — nearly double the drug-seizure level posted in the 2003 fiscal year.
    "It would definitely be the more manpower — that's the biggest difference," said Matthew Poeske, a Border Patrol spokesman.
    The Border Patrol won't disclose the precise number of agents, but Poeske said the Tucson Sector, which includes all but the most western portion of Arizona, has about 2,500 agents now, with a major increase in personnel coming in the last three years. Also, as the Border Patrol hired new agents, experienced veterans were brought in from other sectors to improve the learning curve for rookies.
    New camera systems have been deployed at some of the forward stations, adding more eyes on the border and freeing agents to be more mobile.
    "Sometimes when you have more agents you get more seizures, but on the other hand the smugglers see the buildup, and it could divert more of the traffic," Poeske said. "The attempts will keep coming, but the areas will shift. If an area gets too difficult for them, they'll do what they have to do to get around it."
    Officials said they are uncertain if the surge in seizures means they're intercepting a greater portion of the drugs being smuggled into the country.
    "We would really never know the total amount of marijuana they want to smuggle, but we can tell they've had to shift their traffic pattern to the west desert areas, and violence has escalated quite a bit," Poeske said. "We must be backing them up down that way if they're starting to get violent and switching the patterns."
    Several coordinated multi-agency operations in 2005 — including Stonegarden and Full Court Press — were aimed at the border, said Lt. Ken Hunter of the Arizona High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, the federal anti-drug analysis and intelligence center.
    "They're all different names but they all use federal, state and local assets to concentrate on interdiction and curbing the flow of narcotics and illegal immigrant smuggling," said Hunter, of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. "The multi-agency approach works much better than the one-agency approach. … you really put together a larger, clearer picture of what the threat is to the state of Arizona," he said.
    With HIDTA's efforts, the Border Patrol's Arizona Border Initiative and even the civilian Minuteman Project, national attention has been directed at the Arizona border, Hunter said.
    "We've noticed the drug trafficking organizations in Mexico are knowledgeable, flexible and adapt well to our enforcement mission," Hunter said. "They saw the attention, and that curbed it for a while. For a while you had stashes of drugs just south of the border."
    With more scrutiny and resources on the way to the border, including heat from Mexican authorities, Hunter said the smugglers are pushing to move more drugs quickly.
    The Drug Enforcement Administration has stepped up surveillance between the major ports of entry, said Ramona Sanchez, an agency spokeswoman in Phoenix.
    "If they expect the National Guard to be at the border, I would assume they would try to shotgun their loads," Sanchez said. "They'll get desperate and try to move larger loads across the border before this takes effect."
    Some loads intercepted this year
    ● Examples of large drug seizures this year in Southern Arizona:
    l Jan. 23 — Border Patrol agents responding to a report of illegal entrants west of Nogales followed a series of footprints to a group of smugglers, who escaped back into Mexico. The group left behind three assault rifles and 482 pounds of marijuana and hashish worth $500,000.
    l Jan. 27 — Border Patrol agents at a checkpoint on Interstate 19 discovered 124 bundles of marijuana in a semi truck. The 2,598 pounds of pot had an estimated street value of $2.1 million. The driver, a resident alien, was arrested.
    l Jan. 30 — Agents patrolling near Lochiel east of Nogales noticed a suspicious truck and found 81 bundles of marijuana in a hidden compartment. The bust yielded 1,641 pounds of pot, valued at $1.2 million. The driver, a naturalized U.S. citizen, was arrested.
    l Feb. 2 — A Customs and Border Protection helicopter pilot spotted several vehicles driving into the United States illegally in Potrero Canyon west of Nogales. While attempting to evade the helicopter, one truck rolled and agents found 83 bundles of marijuana inside, weighing 1,938 pounds, with a street value of $1.6 million. The driver escaped.
    l Feb. 13 — Border Patrol agents found 4,926 pounds of marijuana valued at $3.9 million in two stolen vehicles that entered the country illegally near Nogales.
    l April 12 — Border Patrol agents found two stolen trucks in a remote area south of Arizona 86. The trucks were packed with 3,835 pounds of marijuana, valued at $3.1 million.
    Pounds seized
    ● Border Patrol Tucson sector drug seizures (in pounds)
    l 2003: 362,351
    l 2004: 446,754
    l 2005: 489,898
    l 2006: 543,740 (through July 5; fiscal year ends Sept. 30)
    http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/printDS/137170
    Illegal aliens remain exempt from American laws, while they DEMAND American rights...

  2. #2
    Senior Member IndianaJones's Avatar
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    ALL those millions of dollars worth of drugs in just one state! Imagine how many millions of dollars worth of countless drug deals all across the country that are never caught. The Mexican economy is booming and for good reason! They can sneak in here and buy land and property with their ill-gotten gain. This is the kind of money that Americans cannot compete with. We would not want to make selling and buying drugs illegal would we? That would make the drugs be of little value. Making things legal seems to make them have little value. We do know that our government has considered 'regulating' some of these drug. At least they could get in on the action legally. More money is to be made by 'appearing' to have drug enforcement, which certainly isn't working if these types of shipments are being brought in everyday! Who the heck uses all this stuff anyway??? The senate?
    We are NOT a nation of immigrants!

  3. #3
    Senior Member mapwife's Avatar
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    And to think, the open borders crowd sees NO correlation between "immigration" and the drug trade. You notice when they make their arguments like "feed their family" and "just want to work," they never never never acknowledge that illegal aliens are moving, producing and importing such a high percentage of U.S. bound drugs.
    Illegal aliens remain exempt from American laws, while they DEMAND American rights...

  4. #4
    Senior Member loservillelabor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mapwife
    And to think, the open borders crowd sees NO correlation between "immigration" and the drug trade. You notice when they make their arguments like "feed their family" and "just want to work," they never never never acknowledge that illegal aliens are moving, producing and importing such a high percentage of U.S. bound drugs.
    I think there's a good chance that our chemically lobotomized "leaders" must be using a lot of this stuff. I think we need to random test our employees in Washington.
    Unemployment is not working. Deport illegal alien workers now! Join our efforts to Secure America's Borders and End Illegal Immigration by Joining ALIPAC's E-Mail Alerts network (CLICK HERE)

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