Pubdate: Fri, 11 Jan 2002
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Gary Fields, Staff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?194 (Hutchinson, Asa)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?203 (Terrorism)

Politics & Policy

AUTHORITIES ANNOUNCE SCORES OF ARRESTS IN CRUSHING A DRUG-DISTRIBUTION RING

WASHINGTON -- Federal law-enforcement officials carried out a 12-city drug 
bust Thursday, arresting 58 people they said were connected to two rings 
smuggling pseudoephedrine, a main ingredient in both over-the-counter sinus 
medicines and methamphetamine, or "speed."

The arrests make a total of 125 since April in connection with two alleged 
rings based in Chicago and Detroit. Authorities believe the rings were 
responsible for trying to bring millions of over-the-counter tablets of the 
decongestant into the country from Canada. Once in the U.S., the tablets 
were delivered to illegal laboratories in California, where they were used 
to make methamphetamine.

Officials said they suspect a link to terrorism in the case. Some of those 
arrested were people of Middle Eastern descent accused of funneling part of 
the proceeds to associates in Yemen and Jordan.

So far, investigators have found no clear evidence of a link to funding 
terrorism, said Asa Hutchinson, administrator of the Drug Enforcement 
Administration. But they are pursuing that angle aggressively. "There's a 
whole lot of smoke with a whole lot of money. We're looking for the fire to 
go with the smoke," said one federal investigator, who said authorities 
have traced cash shipments in the "millions of dollars" to the two Middle 
Eastern countries.

Altogether, federal authorities have made more than 300 arrests since they 
began focusing attention on similar rings in August 2000. DEA investigators 
said that most of the defendants picked up in the latest operation are from 
Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, Palestine, Kuwait and Iraq. Charges range from 
conspiracy to illegal distribution of drugs.

Mr. Hutchinson said that the authorities were checking the immigration 
status of the defendants, but so far, they all appeared to have entered the 
country legally or are U.S. citizens.

The smugglers made bulk purchases of the tablets in Canada, where the 
regulations on such purchases aren't as stringent as in the U.S. Since the 
operation began, U.S. law enforcement seized about 30 tons of 
pseudoephedrine, enough to produce about 37,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 
Mr. Hutchinson said.

In just one incident, Customs authorities found 43 million tablets in a 
truck at a border stop near Detroit. The truck driver said the rig was 
empty, Mr. Hutchinson said. "There was enough decongestant in there to 
unplug every nose in Michigan for years," said Customs Commissioner Robert 
Bonner, a former DEA administrator.

One of the ways the tablets were brought into the country was in trucks 
with FedEx and U.S. Postal Service logos.

Pseudoephedrine smuggling and the outflow of money to the Middle East has 
been a concern for federal law enforcement since 2000, when federal agents 
arrested 140 people across the U.S., including eight ringleaders who came 
from Jordan, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Syria.

Write to Gary Fields at  ---
MAP posted-by: Jackl