Drug Tunnels Along the U.S.-Mexico Border: High Costs, High Rewards

Newsweek: More than 80 tunnels have been discovered between Mexico and the United States since 2006, most recently this past Thursday after a six-month investigation by the U.S. government resulted in a large smuggling tunnel being uncovered, as well as 22 arrests and the recovery of 12 tons of marijuana.

The tunnel, about 32 feet underground, runs about 2,880 feet, between the Otay Center Warehouse in San Diego and another warehouse in Tijuana. In a statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney David Finn said the tunnel is believed to have a railroad system, lighting and electricity throughout.

Paper: Most US-Mexico border smugglers are Americans

AP: The smuggling of migrants across the U.S.-Mexico border relies heavily on American labor, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review found in an eight-month investigation that paints a portrait of the network of smugglers known as "coyotes."

Three out of every five convicted smugglers are U.S. citizens, according to an analysis by the newspaper of 3,254 federal trafficking convictions during 2013 and 2014 in federal courts in the southern stretches of Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. Read more. 

Mexican Drug Cartels Are Using Magnets To Create Unwitting Mules

Business Insider: Drug smugglers are turning "trusted travelers" into unwitting mules by placing containers with powerful magnets under their cars in Mexico and then recovering the illegal cargo far from the view of border authorities in the United States.

One motorist spotted the containers while pumping gas after crossing into Southern California on Jan. 12 and thought it might be a bomb. Read more.

Suspected smuggler fatally shot in gunfight near Texas-Mexico border

Reuters: A suspected smuggler in a group allegedly bringing drugs over the border from Mexico was fatally shot on Wednesday in an exchange of gunfire with a U.S. Border Patrol agent near the Texas town of Chapeno, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said.

"As agents secured the narcotics load, one agent searching the area for smugglers came under fire," the office said, adding the agent returned fire and struck the suspected smuggler. Read more. 

253,000 U.S. guns smuggled to Mexico annually, study finds

The Miami Herald 
By Tim Johnson
McClatchy Newspapers

Mexico City -- Some 2.2 percent of all U.S. gun sales are made to smuggling rings that take firearms to Mexico, a scale of illegal trafficking that’s “much higher than widely assumed,” an academic study released Monday found.

An average of 253,000 weapons purchased in the United States head south of the border each year, according to the study by four scholars at the University of San Diego’s Trans-Border Institute and the Igarape Institute, a research center in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Profit margins at many gun stores are razor thin, and thousands of U.S. gun vendors would go out of business without the illicit traffic to Mexico, said Topher McDougal, an economist educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who’s one of the study’s authors.

The study’s conclusions are likely to add to controversy over what role U.S. weapons smugglers play in Mexico’s drug violence. Mexican officials have long blamed lax gun laws in the United States for the availability of weapons in Mexico, which has only one gun store and considers gun ownership a privilege, not a right.

The value of the annual smuggling trade is $127.2 million, says the study, “The Way of the Gun: Estimating Firearms Traffic Across the U.S.-Mexico Border.”  Read more. 

Mexico left in the dark on Fast and Furious, ambassador says

latimes.com: WASHINGTON — The failed federal gun-tracking operation called Fast and Furious showed an "outstanding lack of understanding of how criminal organizations are operating on both sides of our common borders," the Mexican ambassador to the United States said.

In a forum Thursday on Capitol Hill, Arturo Sarukhan complained that his government had been left in the dark about operations to stop gun smuggling at the border. He also revealed that his government was conducting its own official investigation into how some 2,000 U.S.-purchased firearms made it across the border and into the hands of drug cartels amid the escalating violence in Mexico.

"Mexico was never apprised how the operation would be designed and implemented," Sarukhan told officials at a forum hosted by the New Democrat Network, or NDN, a center-left think tank and advocacy organization, and the New Policy Institute, one of its sister organizations.

"Regardless of whether this was or was not the intent or the design of Fast and Furious," Sarukhan said, "the thinking that you can let guns walk across the border and maintain operational control of those weapons is really an outstanding lack of understanding of how these criminal organizations are operating on both sides of our common borders." Read more. 

Drug War and U.S. Corruption: Santa Cruz Sheriffs Deputy sentenced for trying to smuggle cocaine

KVOA: "A former Santa Cruz County Sheriff who allegedly used his position to smuggle nearly 5 kilograms of cocaine across the U.S./Mexico border was sentenced today in U.S. District Court.

Jesus Rene Contreras, 31, who was a six-year veteran of the Sheriff's Department, was sentenced to six years in federal prison for conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute cocaine - he pleaded guilty to the charge back in July 2011.

Court documents reveal Contreras worked with Ernesto Castro and another individual to use Contreras' position as a deputy sheriff to transport cocaine past the I-19 Border Patrol checkpoint. On March 2, 2010, he drove about 4.9 kilograms of cocaine past the checkpoint while in uniform and driving his official patrol vehicle." read more

Immigration: Mexico army finds 73 Central American migrants in houses near US border

AP/Washington Post: "The Mexican army says it has found 73 Central American migrants in three houses in the city of Miguel Aleman, which is across from Roma, Texas. The army and federal police have increasingly been rescuing migrants who have been kidnapped and held for ransom by drug cartels along the U.S. border. But it wasn’t clear if the migrants found in Miguel Aleman were being held against their will." read more

Border Control: U.S. Senate unanimously approves anti-border tunnel bill

Nogales International News: "The U.S. Senate this week unanimously approved a bill meant to combat illegal tunnel activity along the Southwest border. The Border Tunnel Prevention Act of 2011, authored by U.S. Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) builds on a related law that the two legislators authored in 2006 and that was signed into law in 2007.

... The Border Tunnel Prevention Act of 2011 specifically makes the use, construction, or financing of a border tunnel a conspiracy offense; includes illegal tunneling as an offense eligible for wiretaps; and makes it easier for U.S. authorities to seize assets in tunneling cases." read more

Drug War at the Border: U.S. border cops nab go-kart hauling Mexican pot

Those drug moles just keep finding other ways to cross the border.

Reuters: "U.S. border cops in far-west Arizona have seized an off-road go-kart and trailer packed with marijuana, in the latest bizarre attempt by Mexican smugglers to beat beefed up border security. ... "It's not something that we see very often," agent Spencer Tippets said of the attempt. "Smuggling organizations are always trying to adjust and change their tactics," he added." read more

Drug War Money Laundering: Bus passengers get prison in Texas cash smuggling case

Another inventive attempt to smuggle money across the border. 

Reuters: "A federal judge sentenced a busload of passengers to prison terms of up to three years for their role in a foiled smuggling operation to ferry more than $3.1 million in cash into Mexico, U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson said on Tuesday.

The sentences came after federal agents stopped a southbound commercial bus at the Hidalgo, Texas international bridge, about 240 miles south of San Antonio, in September 2010. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers searched 17 pieces of luggage on the bus and found cash stuffed inside deflated Coleman air mattresses packed in each bag, a criminal complaint said. Agents seized $3.19 million in cash from the bags and arrested all 13 passengers aboard the bus.

The passengers all admitted to their role in the smuggling ring, saying they were recruited to move the cash into Mexico. They expected to be paid as much as $8,000 to courier the currency across the border." read more

Drug Trafficking: 'Blind mules' unknowingly ferry drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border

CNN.com: "Juan Andres was one of at least five so-called "blind mules" identified in a 20-page federal complaint who were used by cartels to traffic drugs.

Others include a fourth-grade teacher and a sports medicine doctor. The blind mules had a few things in common: The bags were all secured the same way, each contained roughly the same amount of marijuana, and most of those caught drove a Ford. " read more

Money "Laundering" at the Border: Cash discovered concealed in baby wipes

Speaking of laundering money...

Green Valley News: News: "Authorities discovered more than $92,000 in undeclared U.S. currency hidden in a package of baby wipes belonging to a woman who tried to enter Mexico through Nogales. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says its officers ... selected an 18-year-old female passenger for additional questioning while conducting an outbound inspection of a commercial bus Thursday night. When the officers inspected the woman’s luggage, they discovered the cash in four packages concealed among the baby wipes."

Border Security: Backpacking Transnational Criminals

Border Lines: "One might assume from the flurry of media releases from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that the Obama administration’s new Strategy to Combat Transnational Organized Crime is working. But most of the reported strikes against TCOs involve Mexican illegal border crossers carrying 50-60 pound burlap bags packed with marijuana.

No doubt that U.S. border security operations are “impacting their ability to transport contraband,” but the drug trafficking organizations continue to supply the expanding U.S. drug market. Border Patrol agents continue to catch backpacking marijuana smugglers, but this doesn’t mean that these apprehensions “target transnational criminal organizations,” as CBP falsely claims." read more

Drug Trade: Nachos and meth don't mix at border

89.3 KPCC: "Ever order nachos with extra cheese? How about a side of methamphetamine? Federal agents say they found 7 pounds of the drug stuffed inside cans of nacho ingredients at the San Ysidro border crossing in San Diego County. The meth was found hidden in cans of cheese sauce and jalapenos." read more

Drug War and Immigration: Migrants Say They're Unwilling Mules For Cartels

NPR: "Mexican drug cartels have found a new source of labor to backpack marijuana into the United States: illegal immigrants.

Federal agents, prosecutors, defense attorneys and migrants themselves say that traffickers have begun recruiting undocumented immigrants at the border, both voluntarily and forcibly. Now, U.S. courts along the border have to decide what to do with terrified immigrants who come before them and say, "The cartel made me do it."" read more

Mexico Drug War: Despite Raids, Tijuana Tunnels Keep Humming Underground

A somewhat irreverant look at who may--or may not--be winning the war on drugs: the mole whackers or the moles, who just keep digging.

NYTimes.com: "The tunnel ran for almost half a mile, .... Energy-saving light bulbs illuminated the route. A motorized cart on metal rails ensured quick passage, (and there was) a steel elevator...

And yet, (a) simple fact (was) obscured by superlatives like “the most elaborate” and “the most sophisticated,” which officials seem to lather on each new find. Tunnels are Tijuana. They have become an inevitable, always-under-construction or always-operating part of city life, as entrenched as cheap pharmacies and strip clubs.

... The evidence around the tunnel ... suggested that the operation had been going for months,... At that rate, hundreds of tons of marijuana worth hundreds of millions of dollars would have moved through this one tunnel during its life span. ... Most likely somewhere nearby, in another tunnel, the flow continues. The next announcement and news tour may be only weeks away." read more

Drug Trafficking: Major US-Mexico border tunnel highlights seasonal trend in increasingly popular smuggling tack

AP/Washington Post: "The investigation into the largest marijuana bust at a cross-border tunnel followed a familiar timeline. It began in May and ended in November.

The secret passage linking warehouses in San Diego and Tijuana — equipped with a hydraulic lift, electric rail carts and a wooden staircase — highlights an emerging seasonal trend. For three years, authorities have found sophisticated tunnels on the U.S.-Mexico border shortly before the winter holidays in what officials speculate is an attempt by drug smugglers to take advantage of Mexico’s fall marijuana harvest." read more

Drug Trafficking and the Border: Authorities discover another border drug-smuggling tunnel in San Diego - The Washington Post

AP/Washington Post: "U.S. authorities said they discovered a major cross-border tunnel Tuesday, the latest in a spate of secret passages found to smuggle drugs from Mexico.

“It is clearly the most sophisticated tunnel we have ever found,” said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in San Diego. She did not provide details. ... Tunnels have emerged as a major tack to smuggle marijuana. More than 70 have been found on the border since October 2008, surpassing the number of discoveries in the previous six years. " read more

The Border: Horse sense on the border pays off

USATODAY.com: "Clyde, a lean, copper-colored mustang, is one of the latest weapons in the struggle to tighten the U.S. border with Mexico. The U.S. Border Patrol has used horses since its inception in 1924, but new funds from headquarters and a federal program that captures, breaks and donates wild mustangs is bringing more mounted patrols than ever to the border. "He's doing great," says Border Patrol agent Chris Garza, Clyde's rider. "They do things ATVs and trucks just can't."


... "They're (the drug and people smugglers) looking for (Border Patrol) trucks with green and white stripes," he says. "They're not looking for horses." Garza knows it won't be long before the cartels catch on and adjust tactics. "They're smart," he says. "They'll figure it out."" read more