Pubdate: Tue, 26 Nov 2002
Source: Tahlequah Daily Press (OK)
Copyright: Tahlequah Daily Press 2002
Contact:  http://www.tahlequahdailypress.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2636
Author: Bob Gibbins

TASK FORCE IN TEXAS TO TARGET METH LABS IN OKLAHOMA

A federal drug task force in Texas will begin targeting methamphetamine 
labs in Oklahoma. Sequoyah County, one of those included in the sweep, is 
in District Attorney Dianne Barker-Harrold's jurisdiction. She welcomes the 
news that the High-Intensity Drug Traffic Area grant includes Sequoyah 
County. "We have been trying for years to get this," she said. "We are very 
pleased." Barker-Harrold said the project combines local, state and federal 
authorities and allows the formation of task forces.

She said Sequoyah County ranks second only to Oklahoma County in the number 
of methamphetamine labs. The HIDTA is generally for major geographical 
areas, and the fact that Sequoyah County has been chosen shows the area's 
methamphetamine problem is being recognized. Barker-Harrold said Sequoyah 
County is an attractive area for methamphetamine labs for several reasons. 
"It's remote, and methamphetamine has become easier to cook," she said. 
"It's easy to find a heat source, and it's easier to hide in the middle of 
nowhere.' Despite the county's remote location, it features major highways 
handy for those who are selling and transporting methamphetamine. 
Barker-Harrold said U.S. Highways 59 and 69 are close as is Interstate 40.

"We miss a lot of the traffic because we don't have the manpower," she said.

The North Texas HIDTA task force, one of 33 multiagency groups across the 
country working to dismantle major drug organizations, has won the approval 
to form three new squads from a number of Oklahoma law enforcement 
agencies. One squad will work to disrupt drug trade, another will target 
Oklahoma's clandestine labs. A third task force, based in Oklahoma City, 
will spend much of its time gathering intelligence about Mexican 
drug-trafficking gangs operating in Oklahoma. The three groups will target 
five other counties besides Sequoyah: Oklahoma, Tulsa, Muskogee, Comanche 
and Cleveland. Last year, those counties accounted for most of the 1,200 
labs confiscated by state authorities. The Office of National Drug Control 
Policy, which oversees the nation's 33 HIDTA task force offices, approved 
the rare expansion in September with an initial $250,000 grant.

The three new squads should be deployed by Christmas. Malcom Atwood, 
director of the Oklahoma State Bureau of Narcotics, praised the extra 
government help to combat a problem that seems to be spiraling beyond his 
agency's control.

"Those are probably the counties in which most of the drug activity in 
Oklahoma has been taking place," he said. "With the federal resources, 
we'll be able to focus in on those problems."

Law enforcement officials had a hard time getting approval for the task 
force expansion because counter terrorism has been such a priority, but 
officials said the inability of thinly stretched local police to stem a 
major rise of a national methamphetamine trade made a powerful argument for 
the expansion.

"There just aren't a lot of resources up there," said Dallas DEA Special 
Agent in Charge Sherri Strange, who campaigned for the expansion in her 
office's jurisdiction. "Oklahoma is a very rural place, and a lot of their 
resources are spread out."

A HIDTA "threat assessment" study this year in rural Oklahoma cites a surge 
in substance-abuse treatment numbers that places Oklahoma 42 percent higher 
than the national average for stimulant abuse. The study also says Oklahoma 
is a major national hub for the smuggling and distribution of illegal 
"precursor" chemicals used in the home production of methamphetamine.

"There appears to be no slowdown in either clandestine methamphetamine lab 
activity or Oklahoma's role as a major source for precursor chemicals," the 
report said. "With 35 registered wholesalers and three manufacturers of 
pseudoephedrine, Oklahoma-based chemicals have been found in all 
surrounding states and as far as California and Nevada."
Pseudoepedrine is a decongestant commonly used in over-the-counter cold 
medicines.

It also is a main ingredient in the production of illegal methamphetamine. 
Taking advantage of Oklahoma's many highways, Mexican drug traffickers have 
set up operations near Oklahoma City and Tulsa, creating tightly knit gangs 
that traffic in large quantities of cocaine, marijuana and heroin, federal 
officials said. Large amounts of drugs are being shipped on Interstates 35, 
40 and 44 to other major cities, particularly Chicago, Kansas City and New 
York. Money from the drug transactions is then shipped back to Mexico by 
similar routes, the threat assessment report said.
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