DEA Breaks Up Three Major Drug Pipelines

[sintax]

DEA Breaks Up Three Major Drug Pipelines


Friday August 19, 2005 11:46 PM

By SUZANNE GAMBOA

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Drug enforcement agents have arrested some 160 people in four U.S. cities and two countries and have broken up three major drug transportation rings with international ties in a 10-month drug-trafficking sting revealed Friday.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said the people arrested were involved in 27 U.S. distribution groups that have moved enough methamphetamine into the United States to have provided the drug to more than 22,700 users a month.

Arrests in the sting - dubbed Operation Three Hour Tour by the Drug Enforcement Administration - were made Thursday in Los Angeles, New York, New Haven, Conn., Des Moines, Iowa, the Dominican Republican and Colombia. Other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies also participated in the sting. More arrests could occur, the DEA said.

<snip>

The three Mexican and Colombian drug transportation organizations and their U.S. counterparts smuggled and distributed 4,000 pounds of cocaine, 20 to 30 pounds of heroin and more than 50 pounds of methamphetamine monthly throughout this country, the DEA said.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5221494,00.html

[Vincardog]

1. Was anyone from the Bu$h Crime Family arrested?

I bet not. They skate again.

[saigon68]

24. $$$$$$ ITS " WHACK A MOLE" $$$$ at the FEDERAL LEVEL $$$$$$

Good thing their are no Seniors who need prescriptions this week

Or hungry children to feed either

The PRISON EXPANSION goes on.

[loudsue]

30. No...it was the boosh Crime Family that didn't want any competition.

Looks like someone was cutting in on their turf! So...they had the DEA go in and do their dirty work for them. That's how a mafia works, when they have the force of the government on their side, and on their payroll.

:kick:

[sniffa]

2. nooooo

:cry:

[wli]

3. as if the "war on drugs" were anything but a prison-stuffing scam

Lots of complicity of the US govt. in drug trafficking.

[starmaker]

15. Interesting "complicity"

[wli]

16. which part is interesting? n/t

[starmaker]

22. Entire Article

[Roland99]

4. Did any of the 160 arrested happen to be CIA agents?

[Rich Hunt]

5. good

I have no sympathy for the drug barons. Sympathy for addicts yes, but if you've seen the damage these people do to communities and innocent people, you woudn't be crying for them.

[bread_and_roses]

9. NPR reporter said "mid-level functionaries" arrested

One doesn't have to have "sympathy for drug barons" to shrug shoulders and say, "so what?" to this headline. All you have to do is to recall how many times you've read similar headlines. For me, reading them since the '70's, it must be thousands of times. How long do you think it will take to put new "mid-level functionaries" in place?

The "war on drugs" is, as another poster aptly put it, a "prison-stuffing ststem." But even that phrase doesn't convey it's true evil - most of those stuffed in prisons are minorities and poor, enforcement is arbitrary so it is simply a convenient tool for social control, and the huge underground drug money economy is real useful. Which is why although anyone who reads even a little or thinks even a little knows that criminalization does NOTHING to stem the problem, that is the only approach. The powers that be would be hugely inconvenienced if all that illegal underground money were unavailable.

[The Backlash Cometh]

11. I think it's time to go for the top level.

It looks like they may be involved with more than just selling drugs.

[bread_and_roses]

12. It's time to end the insane "War on Drugs"

We are talking about a trade that generates billions. To date, the effects of criminalization have fallen on the poor, minorities, and and a very few "examples" who for some reason became dispensable/disposable.

Criminalization does nothing but provide an easy way to exercise social control and to keep huge amounts of underground money flowing.

Time to try something else.

[The Backlash Cometh]

14. I'm sure you would change your mind quickly if we were to hit the top

ranks.

Criminalized or not, I don't think that it's a good idea to dope up a nation. Be careful what you wish for.

[bread_and_roses]

21. The "War on Drugs" is not stopping ANYONE from "doping up the Nation"

If anything, the "drug problem" is far worse now, after thirty years of busts, endless lives ruined, huge public $ spent, one-quarter of young AA men cycling through our jails, the inner cities more like Third-World countries, and the widespread use of more damaging drugs - a la` crack and crystal meth.

Not to mention that "the Nation" still does a fine job of doping itself up on the Granddaddy of drugs, alcohol. And we haven't even mentioned the toll taken on the lives,livelihood, and land of poor people in the drug producing Countries. Or the toll on our Civil Liberties, which were dismantled for this "war" long before the "War on Terror."

Human beings have always liked to play with their consciousness, have always taken drugs, will always take drugs. A certain % of those who take drugs have always and will always become addicted.

The "warriors" who are "fighting" the "War on Drugs" know perfectly well that it's not "winnable" through criminalization or interdiction. It's a political tool, a sop, and a lie that allows them to puff their chests and be "tough on crime." And that's just fine with them - it's far too useful to ever "win" and who cares about the lives of mostly poor, mostly minority victims? Or the lives of Third World peasants? Or even the lives of the mostly poor White rural residents now killing themselves with Crystal Meth?

I know very well what I'm talking about. There is no argument for the "War on Drugs" that hasn't been proven invalid not by theory or argument but by events and history over the past thirty years.

[The Backlash Cometh]

23. Let me put it this way:

Our kids are medically doped up with ritalin and God knows what else. As adults we're encouraged to consume Paxil and other anti-anxiety, anti-depression medications.

Soooo, how is it that the same people who are bitching because the pharmecuticals have us hooked on drugs also want to add pot, cocaine and other Alice candy to the over the counter list?

Where's the disconnect?

[left hand man]

31. My Father was a very conservative man but favored legalizing weed

He found a patch I had in a GREAT place(I thought).He called the Sheriff(a buddy)and they went and pulled it up.As they walked and pulled the sheriff talked about the economics of it.By the end of the afternoon my Dad was a convert.He figured that I was gonna make more off my patch than he would make from 20 acres of soybeans he had across the creek. He wanted the Govt.to set Quotas and award them to farmers.Then they would buy the crop,process it and retail it in stores set up just for that purpose.(this was in 1977).
R.I.P.------J.W.R.1.23.1993

[sintax]

17. Big money in them thar prisons

Food service ripoffs
Charging prisoners/their families for collect- only calls at about 400% the regular rate
Linen service
Cheap and/or free labor

[Warren Stupidity]

6. OK so the WOD is over then right?

What? Its not?

[StrafingMoose]

7. That would explain...

the porous border problem with Bush telling the Minutemen to stand down. It would indeed, be quite delicate to have a civilian call a Border Patrol agent on an undercover DEA agent.

While some DEA agents might have honest intention, I feel this story could be baloney and that the whole Los Zetas thing will get even worse in the coming months.

[booksenkatz]

8. ...and 21 more sprout right back up in their place. NT

[The Backlash Cometh]

10. Good job DEA.

You can always count on the DEA to bring in a major collar. I'm sure the CIA is appreciative of their efforts.

[HadItUpToHere]

13. WHAT...? no POT???

but...but...i thought that reefer was the one true scourge.

[orpupilofnature57]

26. You mean, you thought THEY call it the "Gateway Drug" anyway..

WELCOME to D.U!!! I think booze the legal drug,the scourge of all drug's, but I'm a toner.

[DrBloodmoney]

18. This just in...

6 more 'pipelines' sprout up in their place.

Good job! Idiots...

Legalize, regulate and treat... it's a simple equation

[kineneb]

19. gee, drugs & terrorists!

kinda like "whack-a-mole"...push one down over here and several pop up over there instead...can't win the war on drugs or "terror" the way the drips have been trying...bah!

[The_Casual_Observer]

20. 3 out of how many? a million?

[orpupilofnature57]

25. The DEA is as reliable as the c.i.a, both used, funded, and staffed..

by politicians and criminals, it's a war theocracy, like that other self-propelled situation.

[SOS]

27. Slightly OT

Whenever the "War on Drugs" comes up, it's irresistable to post this photo of the War's founder along with his official deputy:



Nixon, a severe alcoholic, and Elvis, who died of a narcotics overdose.
Both hated pot-smokers. 35 years later, the hypocrisy continues to reign.
A new prescription: medicalize narcotic addiction. Decriminalize cannabis nationwide.
This approach is working in Europe and it can work here too.

[KansDem]

28. "Three Hour Tour ?!?!?" What's up with this name for the operation?

Isn't that a line from the opening song to "Gilligan's Island?"

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale,
a tale of a fateful trip,
That started from this tropic port,
aboard this tiny ship.
The mate was a mighty sailin' man,
the Skipper brave and sure.
Five passengers set sail that day for a three hour tour.
A three hour tour.

Yeah, I thought I'd heard that before. Very revealing.

Makes one wonder if this whole billion-dollar "War on Drugs" has all the seriousness of a zany, 1960s TeeVee sitcom?

[anotherdrew]

32. because they're picking up the minnows (little fish)

someones got a sense of humor

[JohnnyCougar]

29. Thank God.

Methamphetamine is a terrible, terrible drug. And this coming from someone who has taken his share of drugs in his lifetime.

It ticks me off to see people on here calling meth dealers just part of a prision stuffing program. Whatever. Meth is not pot. Anyone who in any way defends meth dealers really has no clue as to what that drug can do to people and entire communities.

It is 1,000 times worse than any drug the drug companies put out, but I see more sympathy on here for the meth dealers. Let's get real here.