Thread: Record drug seizures on US-Mexico border

(Considering the 20 Million Illegals who were not caught, billions of pounds of drugs may have crossed our border. But, who knows other than the drug cartels.)

Record drug seizures on US-Mexico border

More US enforcement is one reason. But shipments from cartels may also be rising.

By Faye Bowers | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the September 7, 2007 edition

Phoenix - Seizures of illegal drugs – from marijuana to heroin – are on the rise along the US-Mexican border again this year, breaking the previous record for major busts set just last year.

"We're overwhelmed with marijuana," says Anthony Coulson, assistant special agent in charge of the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in Tucson. "We passed last year's record about two months ago."

Marijuana is the most-seized drug, followed by cocaine, methamphetamine, and heroin, Mr. Coulson says. "All of them are trending up."

The jump in drug seizures could be a result of tighter borders – from more border patrol agents to new technology at ports of entry – and newly established checkpoints within the United States. But the increase could also mean that more drugs are being shipped across the border – possibly because Mexico has had a good growing season, much as Afghanistan did in producing record numbers of opium poppies this year. Or it could be because two drug cartels apparently formed an alliance to thwart a crackdown by Mexico's government and are now shipping more drugs to the north.

According to US Customs and Border Protection figures, which include only amounts that CBP agents seize, 1.7 million pounds of marijuana were seized along the US border with Mexico so far this fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30. A little more than half that amount was seized in Arizona. The previous record, for all of fiscal 2006, was about 1.3 million pounds.

DEA figures, which include drugs that all law-enforcement agencies working in the state take in, are even higher. At the end of August, with one month left in the fiscal year, federal, state, and local law-enforcement agencies in Arizona had already confiscated 1.1 million pounds of marijuana coming across the Mexico border. In all of fiscal 2006, officers intercepted 885,573 pounds of marijuana crossing the Mexico-Arizona border.

"Whether they're trying to push more through or we're better at seizing dope is still a question we all have," Coulson says. "We use it as an indicator, although a poor one, that there's an increase in trafficking."

That makes sense to Dawn McLaren, a research economist at Arizona State University in Tempe who tracks cross-border issues. The underground economy works much like the formal economy, she says. "If it's a good year for crops, they have more to export to the US," she says.

Moreover, if the drugs are more potent, American demand for drugs grows.

"Part of the reason for the methamphetamine problem these days is that the meth on the street is better, or more pure, so there are a lot more people becoming addicted," says Professor McLaren.

"The production side is one of the variables" for increased shipments into the US and more law-enforcement seizures, says Nestor Rodriguez, an expert on cross-border issues at the University of Houston. "But there's a host of variables. There's the relationship between gangs and cartels that control the movement [of drugs], and then of course enforcement on the US side."

Most officials and experts agree that US enforcement has increased. There are more border patrol agents now and their numbers continue to grow. X-ray machines, sensors, and canine units have been added to all ports of entry between Mexico and the US. More checkpoints have been set up in the interior US, not far from the border. All have contributed to more seizures of drugs, Coulson says.

But he, like other officials and experts, say drug trafficking is a cyclical business, and when one side sets up a new plan, the other side adapts. For example, soon after Felipe Calderón became Mexico's president in December, he sent thousands of troops to the border to crack down on the cartels trafficking in drugs. In addition, he extradited a number of alleged cartel members – including some leaders – to the US for prosecution.

This, in turn, led to a sort of war between the cartels for control of the lucrative production, manufacturing, and trafficking routes into the US. That chaos among the cartels stemmed the tide of drugs for a while. But in late May, reportedly, two cartels – the Gulf and the Sinaloa – formed an alliance to thwart Mr. Calderón's crackdown and to create a more stable pipeline for trafficking drugs into the US.

"We are concerned that the reported peace agreement between the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels is bad news for us," says Coulson. "We expect an increase in trafficking through this corridor based on that alliance or agreement to share this corridor."

But Coulson says the various government agencies working to stem the flow of drugs are making progress. For one thing, he says, they continue to do better at sharing information and that is leading to quicker results.

"We are certainly doing a much better job at seizing the dope that is out there," Coulson says.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0907/p02s ... tml?page=2

But the increase could also mean that more drugs are being shipped across the border – possibly because Mexico has had a good growing season, much as Afghanistan did in producing record numbers of opium poppies this year.

Good thing for Mexican drug cartels that Bush has pushed for their big rigs to travel throughout the USA instead of using those puny vans. Smart move, huh.

I agree... why cross the border Illegally when you can throw the stuff into an 18 wheeler and cross legally....

Thanks for the help Superior Commandante Jorge Boosh... he will get his cut as soon as they can lander money to him

Border agents set record for marijuana seizures

Associated Press
Sept. 18, 2007 12:00 AM
TUCSON - U.S. Border Patrol agents seized a record amount of marijuana in Arizona during the first 11 months of the fiscal year, which comes to a close at the end of September.

Agents in the patrol's Tucson Sector, which covers most of the Arizona-Mexico border, confiscated nearly 845,000 pounds of pot since Oct. 1, officials say.

Marijuana seizures in the other Arizona sector totaled an additional 46,100 pounds.

The Tucson Sector's total far exceeds the previous record of 616,534 pounds, set last year. The area has been tops in the nation since 2001 for marijuana seizures, agency data shows.

Tucson Sector spokeswoman Dove Haber said a few variables have led to the increase in drug apprehensions. Among them is a stationary traffic checkpoint along Interstate 19 in southern Arizona.

"The checkpoint has been static, and that helps tremendously," said Lloyd Easterling, a spokesman at the patrol's Washington headquarters.

In July, patrol officials said they plan to build an interim checkpoint about 31 miles north of the Mexican border. That site will be used for three to five years until funding and permits for a permanent structure are acquired.

Opponents contend that a location so far north of the border invites criminal traffic to go around it through nearby communities.

The current checkpoint is north of Tubac and about five miles south of the proposed permanent site. Agents there send northbound traffic along the interstate into a single lane.

Motorists have to stop and answer whether they are U.S. citizens while agents with drug-sniffing dogs linger nearby.

Former U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe opposed a permanent checkpoint as impractical and inefficient and succeeded nearly a decade ago in getting a congressional requirement that Tucson Sector checkpoints be temporary. Language inserted in funding laws required them to be moved every seven to 14 days.

But that requirement was not included in a Homeland Security appropriations measure for fiscal 2007, and upon Kolbe's retirement, the agency stopped moving the checkpoint.

Haber said that, with the change, the agency was able to put agents in position to better stop people trying to get around the checkpoint.

What's more, Haber said, many more vehicle barriers have been put up in the sector, making it tougher for pot smugglers to drive across the border where they choose.

Currently, there are 70 miles of vehicle barriers in place, including 41 permanent ones, throughout the Tucson Sector.

http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepubli ... a0918.html