Mexican Drug Traffickers Increasing Operations in D.C. Area, Says Intel Assessment

Friday, January 23, 2009
By Ryan Byrnes

(CNSNews.com) - Mexican drug syndicates, determined by the Justice Department to be the greatest organized crime threat to the United States, have ongoing operations in the Washington, D.C., area, that are expected to increase in the coming year, according an analysis produced in June by the Justice Department’s National Drug Intelligence Center.

The 2008 Drug Market Analysis for the Washington/Baltimore High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) says Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) transport and distribute most of the marijuana and methamphetamine in the region and that the groups are becoming increasingly involved in the transportation and distribution of the area’s cocaine and heroin supply.

The Washington/Baltimore HIDTA includes Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Md., and nine Virginia and Maryland counties surrounding the two cities, plus Richmond, Va., and four counties surrounding that city.

Mexican DTOs and criminal groups are the primary wholesale distributors of commercial-grade marijuana in the W/B HIDTA region, while Vietnamese criminal groups with ties to Asian DTOs in Canada have emerged as the principal distributors
of high-potency marijuana in the region,â€