U.S.-Mexico crackdown on cross-border drug trafficking bears fruit

Drug traffickers plying their trade along the U.S.-Mexico border are being curtailed in their work due to increased efforts by U.S.-Mexican law enforcement authorities to crack down on cross-border drug trafficking activities. The death of Mexico's Interior Secretary Francisco Blake Mora, 45, and seven other people in a helicopter crash southwest of Mexico City last Friday illuminated Mora's key role in decreasing the drug trafficking trade both in Mexico and subsequently along the U.S.-Mexico border. Mora, whose funeral was held on Saturday, worked closely with President Felipe Calderon in extraditing more drug traffickers to the United States than in previous years. But Mexican investigators said there was no link between the crash and any drug trade cartel. To counter increased crackdowns, drug traffickers along the U.S. -Mexico border are trying all sorts of ingenious ways to try to bring illegal drugs into the Caribbean, Mexico, and the United States. The most recent devious way that is adopted by drug traffickers to try to smuggle drugs across the borders of these countries in the region is by way of using self-propelled mini-submarines. Coast guards in many central and southern American countries have been intercepting these drug subs, as the mini-submarines are called. In late October, what is believed to have been the first attempt by drug traffickers to bring a drug sub into Florida waters proved unsuccessful, when a drug sub's crew scuttled such a vessel in waters off the coast of Honduras. When crew members of the Florida-based U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) cutter boat Cypress found the vessel, they immediately alerted the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which then promptly sent 14 scuba divers to investigate the sunken drug sub, which was found to be loaded with seven tons of cocaine worth an estimated 180 million U. S. dollars. "We don't see (drug subs) activity from Mexican smugglers. The Mexican drug trade is primarily done over land," explained Lieutenant Paul D. Rhynard, USCG Washington D.C.-based spokesman. "The fact that they are changing their maritime traffic routes is an indication we're having success stopping them." The two major U.S. government agencies which are devoted to cracking down on drug trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border are the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), and the Customs and Border Patrol (CBP). Without disclosing the precise number of its agents fighting drug trafficking alongside the U.S.-Mexico border, DEA spokesman Jeffrey Scott said the DEA is "the largest international law enforcement agency in Mexico" with 12 bureaus and over 100 staff members there. CBP Commissioner David Aguilar announced on Nov. 11 that, as part of intensified efforts to fight cross-border drug trafficking, a series of upgrades and inspection systems for people entering the U.S. via El Paso had been put into place. The new upgrades will help make customs and border patrol agencies to be more effective in detecting and stop drug traffickers from entering the United States. The CBP has been so successful at controlling border crossings, and also maintaining safety along the U.S.-Mexico border, that a CBP unit known as Border Support Team 18 was deployed in mid- September to Baghdad, Iraq to train their Iraqi counterparts in detecting possible drug or weapons traffickers on its border. The crackdown efforts have led to a series of charges against suspected drug traffickers and criminals in the U.S. On Oct. 28, Joseph Arabit, head of the drug enforcement administration of the DEA in El Paso, the Texas bureau announced that 12 people were indicted on cocaine trafficking charges. The Dallas Bureau of the DEA proclaimed on Oct. 19 that drug trafficking charges had been brought against eight members of the national criminal street gang known as the Crips in the city of Fort Worth, Texas. Although drug trafficking alongside the U.S.-Mexico border is often thought to happen primarily along Texas' border with Mexico, it also happens along other southern U.S. states, such as Arizona, that border with Mexico. Earlier on Sept. 30, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne announced at a press conference in Phoenix that over 1,300 kilos of cocaine were confiscated from a Mexican drug cartel, whose street value was between 25 to 33 million dollars. Authorities in Arizona announced in late October that the one- year Operation Pipeline Express was successfully completed with the result of smashing up of a large narcotics trafficking gateway. In the operation, Arizona law enforcement authorities confiscated over 33 million dollars of illegal drugs in western desert of Arizona. In Mexico, numerous members of its troops have gone through training conducted by Colombian federal police personnel, whose primary job is to stop drug trafficking. For over four decades, Colombia police and troops have gained rich experience from their long history of fighting with heavily armed drug cartels. The Mexican Navy has also set up special anti- drug trafficking units to target drug traffickers on sea.