Pubdate: Wed, 05 Dec 2001
Source: Miami Herald (FL)
Copyright: 2001 The Miami Herald
Contact:  http://www.herald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/262
Author: Kevin G. Hall

HEROIN TRAFFIC INDICATES MEXICAN CARTELS EXPANDING

Trade Challenges Colombians

MEXICO CITY -- Heroin smuggling is becoming a growing concern along the 
porous U.S.-Mexico border, where cocaine has been dominant.

In place of the relatively small volumes of heroin moved across the border, 
traditionally in packets under 5 pounds, authorities say they are 
discovering larger and larger shipments -- a trend that indicates that drug 
smugglers are increasingly cocky about their ability to get the highly 
priced heroin past border points.

Mexican drug cartels already specialized in cocaine and marijuana are 
extending into heroin trafficking.

RING BROKEN UP

A joint U.S.-Mexico investigation, recently disclosed, resulted in the 
seizure of 782 pounds of heroin, a quantity that some law enforcement 
officials believe indicates Mexican traffickers are preparing to challenge 
Colombian gangs who distribute on the U.S. East Coast.

``Seven hundred pounds of heroin is a lot of heroin,'' said a U.S. official 
in Mexico who participated in Operation Landslide, as the U.S.-Mexico 
investigation was dubbed.

Operation Landslide resulted in 42 arrests and broke up an alleged heroin 
distribution ring that trafficked from the Mexican states of Michoacan and 
Baja California to 37 U.S. cities, including San Jose, Calif., and St. 
Louis, Mo. The core distribution cells were in Los Angeles, San Francisco 
and San Jose.

Operation Landslide began almost three years ago with a suspicious seizure 
of more than 253 pounds of heroin at the southwest border with Mexico, an 
extraordinarily large volume. Over the course of the probe, there were 
other big seizures -- 100 pounds of heroin in San Luis, Ariz., 59 pounds in 
Laredo, Texas, and 92 pounds in Del Rio, Texas, among others.

``We've seized more. Does that mean more is coming across? Probably. But 
what is clear is the loads are larger from Mexico and the traffickers are 
pretty bold,'' said Dean Boyd, a spokesman at U.S. Customs Service 
headquarters in Washington. He added, ``These guys could be characterized 
as very audacious.''

The volumes are even more troubling in light of a similar action last year 
called Operation Tar Pit. That operation, unveiled June 15, 2000, broke a 
heroin ring in the state of Nayarit and documented that Mexican drug 
organizations were stepping up heroin smuggling to new markets like 
Detroit, where Colombians have traditionally dominated.

Previously, the Mexican cartels had seldom sold heroin east of the 
Mississippi River, while Colombians dominated East Coast sales.

PURITY, PROFITS

Agents also discovered last year that Mexican gangs had improved the purity 
of their product, which requires a sophisticated transformation from a 
poppy plant to opium gum to heroin. And purity equals profit.

A September report from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said lower 
grade brown or black-tar heroin from Mexico sells for $13,000 to $75,000 a 
kilogram (2.2 pounds) while Asian heroin of higher purity sells for $40,000 
to $190,000 per kilo and Colombian heroin, the purest on the drug market, 
sells for $50,000 to $200,000 per kilogram.

There is some evidence that Mexican heroin gangs are striving to match the 
efficiency of their Colombian rivals. A U.S. official said authorities have 
spotted Colombian ``chemists,'' who prepare heroin, working with the 
Mexicans ``to enhance their heroin synthesis techniques to the point where 
they can compete against southeast and southwest Asia and Colombia in terms 
of white heroin.''
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