N.C.: Illegal immigrant arrested for trafficking meth
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Illegal immigrant arrested for trafficking meth
09:24 PM EST on Friday, March 2, 2007
By ALEX REED / WCNC
E-mail Us: areed@WCNC.com
STATESVILLE, N.C. -- In Iredell County, illegal immigrant Jorge Torres-Pineda is behind bars after allegedly trying to sell drugs to undercover agents.
According to sheriff’s deputies in Iredell County, about one third of the suspects arrested for drug trafficking in that area are illegal immigrants.
“What we've got is probably just the tip of the iceberg so to speak,” said an undercover deputy, who asked not to be identified.
Deputies confiscated one pound of meth ice, the pure form of methamphetamine.
If sold by the gram, deputies say it would have been worth more than $160,000. Deputies say it was confiscated from an illegal immigrant Thursday night when he allegedly tried to sell it to an undercover agent.
"All the largest meth Ice cases that we've done and Methamphetamine cases have all come directly from Mexican drug trafficking organizations,” the deputy said.
More than 90 percent of those suspects from Mexico are in the U.S. illegally, deputies say.
Deputies say the local meth labs only produce a few ounces of meth, but it's a different story across the border.
"The Mexicans that are running these super labs are producing pound cooks at a time,” the deputy said.
What worries deputies even more is how the price of the drug has fallen over the last few years.
"That just tells me that it's becoming more and more prevalent in this area with the price decreasing,” he said.
Deputies believe this latest suspect received his meth from a lab in Atlanta, which deputies say only shows how wide reaching the problem really is.
Torres-Pineda will be processed through the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement database next week to check for prior convictions. Meanwhile deputies say they are continuing to target the influx of meth ice in the region. Last year Iredell County Sheriff’s Deputies confiscated more than $10 million worth of illegal drugs and cash from suspects in the area.
