|
|
Federal drug enforcement agents seized about 351 pounds of meth from two houses in Duluth, GA over a two-day operation. In addition, agents arrested four Mexican nationals, three of whom were in the U.S. illegally.
This drug bust was one of the biggest ever recorded east of the Mississippi River and the result of a two-month investigation. In addition to the crystal meth, also known as “ice,” agents found one kilogram of cocaine, an undetermined amount of cash and chemicals and equipment for making meth. The wholesale value of the meth seized is about $6 million.
Meth, a highly addictive drug, was packaged for distribution along the East Coast and would likely be worth tens of millions of dollars on the street. The Atlanta area along with suburban Gwinnett County has been over the last several years a major drug distribution hub for Mexican drug trafficking organizations. Drugs are brought across the southwest border and along the interstates to Atlanta where they are processed into the final product and repackaged.
The two houses involved were “classic stash houses,” with virtually no furniture. In addition, no guns were found but many of the bags of drugs were in the walls of the houses. Agents believe that the drugs seized were part of a larger shipment.
The Star Tribune recently reported that a high volume cocaine pipeline into Minnesota was busted in early morning raids by Federal agents. The agents arrested traffickers connected to Mexico’s Gulf Cartel, one of the most violent crime syndicates in Mexico.
Federal indictments were issued for 26 for people in Minnesota and south Texas. This was a year long investigation into an organization that was run by a mother and her three sons from McAllen, Texas. Maria I. Aleman and her sons, Roberto, Daniel and Juan, lived near the Hidalgo area on the Rio Grande River border with Mexico. Over the last four years, they were selling five to 15 kilos of uncut cocaine per month in Minnesota. East kilo was selling for between $25,000 and $35,000. In Minnesota, at least 10 people in Minnesota were part of this drug crime.
The Federal agents gathered their information from wiretapped conversations and informants. They learned the Aleman’s were directly supplied by the Gulf Cartel which traffics heavily in cocaine, marijuana, heroin and methamphetamines. The Gulf Cartel is a chief rival of the Sinaloa Cartel and has recruited former members of the Mexican Army’s special forces to keep its Mexican drug routes intact. They are considered an extremely violent paramilitary gang.
Federal agents first made an arrest at a bus station in Burnsville, a south suburban landing point used by the Aleman’s ring. There they confiscated two kilos of cocaine. Agents also raided a Bloomington home and a trailer court neighborhood southwest of St. Cloud. The trailer court was considered the main distribution center.
When Rafael Cedeno, the leader of “The Family” drug cartel in western state of Michoacan was arrested, he told the police he had trained several thousand-cartel members with courses in ethics and personal improvement. The courses he taught his criminal gang were in personal improvement, values, ethical and moral principles. He told them to avoid drugs, hard drinking and maintain family unity.
For those of you who have seen the “God Father” movies, these seem to be the same principles. You may be a criminal engaged in criminal activity but you have to look and act like a law-abiding citizen.
Cedeno said that the point of training was to have better motivational and emotional control over the members. “The Family” has previously portrayed itself as a local organization protecting Michoacan residents from outside drug smugglers, many of whom frequently indulge in drugs or drink. However, this “ethical and moral” drug group is a splinter group from “The Gulf” cartel. They are fighting its former allies for control of territory in Michoacan. This group often leaves gruesome messages next to decapitated heads.
Ironically, Rafael Cedeno was arrested while attending a family baptism.
A recent drug trends report issued by the Minnesota Department of Human Services, reported that admissions to area treatment programs for addiction to methamphetamine declined in 2008 by at least 7%. Meth related treatment accounted for only 5.5% of total metro area treatment admissions in the first half of 2008 compared to 12% for the same time in 2005 where the admissions were the highest.
However, alcohol addiction treatment programs continued to treat more patients when compared to other drug treatment programs. In the first half of 2008, 52.1 percent of admissions reported alcohol as the primary substance problem. More metro area hospital emergency room reported incidents involving underage alcohol consumption than those involving any single illicit drug in the first half of 2008.
The report also showed results of drug testing among arrestees in Hennepin County. Of the 881 male arrestees tested in Hennepin County in 2007, 43.4 percent tested positive for marijuana, 28.5 percent tested positive for cocaine, 5.3 percent tested positive for opiates, and 5.1 percent tested positive for meth.
Community awareness, aggressive law enforcement, prevention efforts and treatments accounted for the downward trend of meth use in Minnesota.
Score a huge win for the good guys!
Recently, the DEA arrested a major Mexican trafficking cartel in the Twin Cities. The Sinaloa cartel was part of a “drug distribution cell” transporting cocaine and methamphetamine to the area from Mexico and Canada. Thirty-seven people were charged with ties to the Sinaloa cartel. Agents seized 4 pounds of methamphetamine, 5.9 pounds of cocaine, 1 pound of marijuana, seven guns, ten vehicles and $33,000 in cash. These drug dealers were transporting cocaine and methamphetamine to the Twin Cities from Mexico and Canada and netting about $3.5 million a month.
During a 21-month multi-agency investigation called Operation Xcellerator, more than 750 people across the country were arrested and more than 23 tons of drugs and $59 million in cash were seized. Arrests were also made in Maryland and California.
The Sinaloa cartel is one of the largest organized crime operations in the world and is responsible for the violence in Mexico and the U.S. Mexico has four main drug cartels named after the areas of their operations – Sinaloa cartel, Gulf cartel, Tijuana cartel and Juarez cartel. These cartels control the trafficking of drugs from South America to the U.S. at an estimate of $13 billion a year. Because the U.S. anti-narcotic operations in the Caribbean and Florida have increased, the flow of drugs is now coming through Mexico.
Gangs of drug cartel thugs are terrorizing innocent people living along Mexico’s drug corridor. Last May in a town, called Villa Ahumada, seventy cartel hit men killed the police chief, two officers and three townspeople. The next day, the entire police force of twenty quit. Soon after nine residents of this small town were kidnapped and held for ransom. Six of the hostages were killed but Mexican soldiers rescued the remaining three hostages.
The town of Villa Ahumada is a key stop on one of Mexico’s busiest drug-smuggling routes. The Sinaloa cartel has been fighting with the Juarez gang for control of this area. A railroad and the PanAmerican Highway run through the town making it a good passageway to smuggle marijuana and cocaine into the U.S. The town is located about 80 miles south of El Paso, Texas.
Drug Cartels treat these towns as their own little fiefdoms. This type of organized crime hurts all the members of the community. They are extorted for protection money. The alternative of not paying for protection is that they will kill you.
Even though this area is far from where most people live, recently, the drug cartels are making runs into the U.S. to kill and kidnap people. You may not live near a border town, but as the drug cartels get bolder, it does put all Americans at risk.
Over the weekend, the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task force conducted a drug bust at a home in Mankato that netted 17 pounds of a box of khat (pronounce COT). Khat is a plant that is legal in East Africa. Users chew the plant to get a caffeine like stimulus. However, it is illegal to possess here in the U.S. When fresh, khat is more potent but after 48 hours, its potency diminishes substantially. The khat seized during the weekend was of the milder variety.
Khat comes from the leaves of a flowering evergreen shrub from East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Over 10 million people use and abuse Khat primarily in the Middle East. The effects of khat are similar to but less intense than methamphetamine or cocaine. You can chew it, smoke it, or brew in tea. Khat alleviates fatigue and reduces appetite. However, long-term use or abuse can cause insomnia, anorexia, gastric disorders, depression, liver damage and cardiac complications. Manic behavior, delusional behavior, violence, suicidal depression, hallucinations, paranoia and psychosis result in abuse of khat.
The box of khat came from France and when authorities from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection alerted law enforcement agency, they set up a sting operation. An undercover agent delivered the package to the home and when the resident signed for the package, the people in the home were arrested. Three women from Mankato were arrested on felony fifth-degree drug possession.
The street value of the khat was estimated at $6,000.
A recent report from the Rand Drug Policy Research Center shows that in some states methamphetamine use is up from previous years. For example, the state of Colorado ranks eighth in the nation in per capita methamphetamine use, which is higher than the state of New York. One reason for high meth use in Colorado is that the population is young and transient because of seasonal ski-resort workers and oil-field workers. The cost of meth use and labs for the state of Colorado is roughly $1.4 billion a year. States such as Arizona and Wyoming are also seeing an increase in meth use and meth labs because of the easy highway access (I-25) from Mexico through these states.
In the state of Minnesota, meth use and meth labs have been declining since 2005 due to the passage and enactment of an anti-meth legislation.
The Rand report goes on to say that the majority of meth users live in rural areas and half of the users are women. Women account for only 25 percent of abusers of other drugs, such as cocaine or marijuana. Meth users usually steal credit cards and checks from mailboxes and use them to purchase their meth. One gang of meth addicts stole a U.S. Postal Service blue drop box and moved it to different locations every few days.
The costs to the public include the burden of arresting and incarcerating drug offenders, as well as the costs of additional non-drug crimes caused by methamphetamine use, such as thefts committed to support a drug habit. Other costs that significantly contribute to the RAND estimate include lost productivity, the expense of removing children from their parents’ homes because of methamphetamine use and spending for drug treatment.
Methamphetamine is a highly addictive substance that can be taken orally, injected, snorted or smoked. Long-term effects of meth use can include severe weight loss, diminished memory, mood disturbances and psychosis, extreme tooth decay, aggressive and violent behavior, and irreversible damage to certain brain functions.
Growing marijuana indoors seems to be an art that criminals find enticing. You can search on the Internet to find the best way to grow these plants. However, a major downfall in indoor growing of marijuana is the excess use of electricity. When criminals living in a subdivision in Broomfield, Colorado decided to grow marijuana in their house, they seemed to have missed that part of high electricity use.
You see they were consuming four times the amount of electricity of other buildings nearby. This was the first clue that the police had that something suspicious was going on in the house. When police and SWAT officers raided the house, they found 44 plants valued at $44,000. The criminals were growing marijuana in a hidden room in the basement of their house.
Once again, it proves that criminals are not smarter than the police. All three men are facing felony drug charges.
You can tell that times are tough when marijuana growers in California are traveling to other states to sell their drugs. Last week police arrested a father and son carrying five suitcases filled with pot in Mankato – one of the largest drug busts in the area.
The 28 pounds of marijuana with a street value of about $100,000 was grown in California and the father and son were transporting it to buyers here in Minnesota. Mankato Department of Public Safety officer John Judd, also a member of the Minnesota River Valley Drug Task Force, said California dealers are looking outside their state because of the medical marijuana law. The law allows people there to grow marijuana for personal medical use. As a result California is producing an abundance of marijuana and depressing the market in California for illegal sales. That is why they came to Minnesota because they were having so much trouble selling it there.
The marijuana was found in a car they were driving and was stored in freezer-sealed bags to
|
|
