Mexican meth seizure largest in S.A. (Texas)

Federal, state and local authorities announced Tuesday that they had disrupted a cell that smuggled large amounts of a potent type of methamphetamine to San Antonio and Dallas.

At least 16 pounds of Mexican meth, or "ice," was seized as part of the three-year investigation led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The street value of that amount of drugs before they are cut is about $218,000.

At a news conference, ICE agents said that, with the help of agencies including the San Antonio Police Department, Texas Department of Public Safety and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, they disrupted the flow of the potent, smokable form of the drug.

Eight people have been arrested on a federal indictment unsealed Tuesday. A ninth person charged remains a fugitive.

The case was significant, agents said, in that it is the largest local seizure of a drug that's usually produced in quantities of 10 pounds or more south of the border, rather than in smaller portions by chemists in clandestine labs across Texas and other states.

Unlike its cousin that originates in the United States, Mexican "ice" meth can be smoked, instead of injected into the bloodstream, and it is about three times purer and more potent, said Joe Arabit, assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in San Antonio.

"We believe the 16 pounds to be the largest seizure of this type of methamphetamine in the San Antonio area," said Al Peña, head of the San Antonio ICE office.

Peña said investigators believe the meth was smuggled in through the Eagle Pass area, and may have originated from a cartel based across the border in Piedras Negras, Mexico.

Agents also seized 10 kilos of cocaine, 200 pounds of marijuana, handguns, rifles, shotguns, jewelry, more than $33,000 and several vehicles. Among the seized property were a 2003 special edition Ford Harley-Davidson truck, two brand-new Harley-Davidson motorcycles, a 1999 Mercedes-Benz, a 2003 Cadillac, a newer-model Chevrolet Suburban and a Rolex watch.

Also seized was a gold ring adorned with the diamond-encrusted letters T and S. Those letters, authorities said, identify the calling card of the Texas Syndicate, one of the state's largest prison gangs.

Authorities said the ring, guns and cash were among items seized from the home or storage units linked to Alfred "Casper" Coronado, 33, a purported Texas Syndicate member.

Of six defendants in federal court on Tuesday, only Coronado's common-law wife, Tracy Gaston — who is six months pregnant with twins — was freed on bond. Her brother, Dustin Gaston, Coronado, Juan Mata, Martin "Cruz" Guerra and Hector "Borrega" Piña were detained pending hearings on Friday or March 25. All are charged with conspiracy to traffic meth, which carries a penalty of 10 years to life. Some were also charged with cocaine possession or with smuggling bulk amounts of cash to Mexico.

Also in custody were John Valdez and Armando "Flaco" Nolasco, who was arrested in Eagle Pass as he returned from Mexico on Friday.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- gcontreras@express-news.net

What bothers me is this statement:

At least 16 pounds of Mexican meth, or "ice," was seized as part of the three-year investigation led by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The street value of that amount of drugs before they are cut is about $218,000.

It was a THREE YEAR investigation, and it netted $218,000 worth of meth, as well as 200 lbs of grass, 10 K's of cocaine, and assorted vehicles & guns.

So, TOP END, you'd say $600,000 worth of drugs, and stuff. How much did it cost to run the 3 year investigation? How many undercover agents were killed during that investigation? It just seems like a pretty 'small' amount, to spend 3 years on.

And, while I'm sure I'll get flamed for it, but I am definately starting to lean into the legalize it/tax it crowd. Hell, maybe it would stop the flow of illegal aliens in this country, too. They couldn't work the drug trade anymore at least.

It was a THREE YEAR investigation, and it netted $218,000 worth of meth, as well as 200 lbs of grass, 10 K's of cocaine, and assorted vehicles & guns.

You were thinking the same thing as I was. My first thought was, WTF? 3 pounds for 3 years? And the value they put on this stuff is "street" value, which is the most it would sell for if it was divided up into the smallest saleable quantities, which is like grams. The people that lost the drugs to the DEA sure as hell weren't expecting to get that much money for it. Every time a drug bust is written up in the news, they estimate the street value, which is what Joe Pusher sells it for. Each time the drugs change hands, they are divided into smaller and smaller units, until they are sold to the consumer. (It is quite capitalistic.)

The whole drug market is driven by 3 forces: The consumers, who want the drug and are willing to do whatever they have to to get them, the prohibitionists, who will do anything they can to keep the consumers from getting them, and the distributors, who will do anything to profit from the supplying the consumers. IMHO, it is the prohibitionists that are most responsible for the problem. The efforts they make to keep the consumers from getting the drugs raise the price of the drugs, and potentiate the vast profits that are made from them. I also opine that a large majority of people who use drugs do so because they are told not to by the prohibitionists.

I strongly favor legalization of drugs, since the removal of the prohibition would take much of the desire to do drugs away. I'm sure the people who do cocaine or meth in small quantities now might go on life-threatening binges as soon as it became legal, but that wouldn't last long. Probably one reason not to legalize drugs is to protect the poor drug users from the sudden surge of legal drugs, but I think it is a poor reason. People will die from drugs whether they are legal or illegal. If legal, maybe a few more overdoses; if drugs remain illegal, there will be people killed by other people over bills that can't be paid or sales territories, otherwise known as "turf."

At some point, we are going to have to legalize drugs, so that we can get criminals out of the drug business. Take guns, for instance. There are those that would love to get guns out of the hands of gun users, since we can't trust people to do the right thing. If guns were made illegal, they would not just go away, they would become more expensive and more difficult to get, but there would still be people with guns.

"It doesn't sound like much, but before this, I had never heard of even a -single- pound being found, let alone 16 pounds of the pure stuff."

Busts this big are not all that uncommon on our highways. I'm in a small county on a major interstate highway and they've made bigger busts than this here. Mostly we get big pot busts. We also get a few big coke bust every year, some a hundred pounds or more. Big meth loads aren't quite as common but we get those too. I don't know what the biggest bust has been but I believe it was at least a hundred pounds and I know there have been several multiple pound busts this year just off the highway in my county.

"And remember, that $200,000 figure was for pre-cut. By the time it filters down to the street level, it probably has been watered down at least two or three times, punching the total value of drugs and guns up closer to the $1M mark."

No way. The Ice found on the streets is rarely going to be two thirds cut. It's usually stronger than the regular meth which has been averaging over 65% pure. I've read this from government sources and I've handled a lot of methamphetamine cases and seen an awful lot of crime lab reports where they always test the product and tell us how pure it is. The ice is generally stronger, but none of it is 100%. When they send this stuff to test it at the crime lab it's going to be below 90% most likely and it could be a good bit lower. They have no idea how pure the stuff is now until they get their crime lab report back which generally takes a long time. It's been taking several months where I live. The field tests they have won't tell them how pure the stuff is but that won't stop them from bragging and exaggerating to reporters.

"Besides, the real profit is in shutting down smuggling routes. Every time a route goes down, time money and labor need to be invested in finding new routes and new men to man them. Of course, with the southern border looking more and more like swiss cheese with each passing year..."

I don't know how many routes are ever shut down and the problem is that there are so many different routes these substances are coming in on and so many different groups involved with producing it, smuggling it, transporting and distributing it. Everything is so compartmentalized, with different people handling the dope at different stages. It changes hands so many times that it quickly becomes impossible to trace up the chain. When people toward the bottom of the distribution chain are caught they are rarely ever able to help catch anyone but those working with them or up one level, if they are willing to snitch. And even when there is a big bust where they round up a lot of people the drugs keep flowing unabated because there is always so much competition out there that hasn't been caught ready, able, willing, and tickled to death to have the new business.

In case you haven't noticed we've more than quadrupled the number of people in our prison over the last twenty five or thirty years yet drugs keep getting cheaper and more pure. The only way to reverse that trend is to interdict a whole lot more of the huge loads at our borders and in source countries and to somehow get at the people producing all of this stuff. Popping smaller loads of a even several pounds doesn't really have any impact, nor does sticking a bunch of people in prison. The real impact comes from shutting down producers and grabbing the huge loads. For some reason people are stuck on thinking the more people we put in prison the more we win the war on drugs. That part really is of minor importance on the supply side compared to the importance of disrupting production and seizing the huge loads. That's the only way to stop the downward slide in prices and maybe even cause them to go up.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.