Pubdate: Thu, 06 Apr 2006
Source: Minneapolis Star-Tribune (MN)
Copyright: 2006 Star Tribune
Contact: http://www.startribune.com/dynamic/feedback/form.php?opinion=1
Website: http://www.startribune.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/266
Author: Greg Bluestein, Associated Press
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

METH STING TARGETED ASIANS, CIVIL LIBERTIES GROUP SAYS

ATLANTA -- Prosecutors and police zeroed in on convenience stores 
owned by South Asians while ignoring white-owned stores during a 
sweeping crackdown on methamphetamine production, the American Civil 
Liberties Union contends. The motion, filed Wednesday, says that 
authorities selectively targeted South Asians during an 18-month 
investigation that aimed to curb the sale of household products used 
to manufacture meth. "They're targeting people who don't make meth, 
they don't use meth and they don't sell meth," said Christina 
Alvarez, an ACLU attorney handling the case. "People should be 
concerned that the government is continuing to blatantly scapegoat 
certain segments of society." Prosecutors deny the allegations. The 
ACLU hopes the filing will prompt a judge to toss out the case 
against dozens of South Asian merchants indicted last year in 
Operation Meth Merchant, a sting designed to send a message to 
retailers knowingly selling meth-related products to drug makers. 
Beginning in early 2004, 15 undercover agents were sent to small 
grocery stores, tobacco shops and delis in six remote northwest 
Georgia counties. Once there, prosecutors said the informants were 
sold products ranging from antifreeze to pseudoephedrine even after 
the informants told the clerks -- sometimes using slang terms -- that 
they planned to make meth. The investigation raised eyebrows, though, 
when 44 of the 49 retail clerks and convenience store owners indicted 
were South Asian. All but one of the 24 implicated stores were owned 
by South Asians. In an area where roughly 20 percent of the 600 
retailers are owned by South Asians, critics said authorities were 
"scapegoating" minorities. Prosecutors said federal law makes clear 
that it is illegal for merchants to sell products knowing -- or with 
reason to believe -- that they could be used to produce drugs. 
Although a few of the cases have been tossed out, several have 
yielded guilty pleas and others are headed to trial, said David 
Nahmias, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgi! a. 
His o ffice would not disclose an exact number, however, because 
cases are still ongoing. In a statement, Nahmias denied claims that 
prosecutors intentionally targeted South Asian merchants and said 
attorneys were assessing each case on its own merits.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman