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West Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis
April 2007

Production

The ready supply of drugs smuggled into the area from Mexico renders significant drug production unnecessary. Methamphetamine production is limited to nonexistent in West Texas as a result of the lack of demand in most areas of the HIDTA. No laboratories have been seized recently, whereas some mom-and-pop laboratories have been seized in the past in the El Paso area. Only small amounts of methamphetamine had been produced at the seized laboratories; most of the drug was intended for personal use by the laboratory operators or distribution to small networks. Cannabis cultivation, both indoor and outdoor, is limited in West Texas because of the wide availability of Mexican marijuana. Indoor cannabis grows are virtually nonexistent in the region. The terrain in West Texas is not conducive to outdoor cannabis cultivation, except along the Rio Grande River in Big Bend National Park. Large outdoor cannabis grows have been seized in the past in Big Bend National Park; however, no large grows have been seized in recent years in the park--only small grows located in the canyons on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande River.

 

Transportation

Mexican DTOs smuggle multiton shipments of marijuana and multihundred-pound quantities of cocaine into the West Texas HIDTA region for transshipment to drug markets throughout the United States. Heroin and methamphetamine are also smuggled through the area, but to a much lesser extent. Marijuana, methamphetamine, and heroin are transported from production sites in Mexico to warehouses and stash houses near the border for staging prior to being smuggled into the United States. Cocaine, which is obtained by Mexican DTOs from Colombian DTOs in South America, is transported through Mexico to these same staging areas. Mexican DTOs contract with other Mexican organizations to transport the drugs from these staging areas into the West Texas HIDTA region, where the drugs typically are consolidated and stored in stash houses for later transportation to drug markets throughout the United States. Mexican DTOs commonly employ independent transportation brokers to facilitate the movement of drug shipments across the U.S.-Mexico border as well as into and through the West Texas HIDTA region. These brokers help to further insulate DTOs from law enforcement.

All illicit drug shipments smuggled from Mexico through the El Paso/Juárez plaza are controlled by a gatekeeper5 that regulates the drug flow from Mexico across the U.S.-Mexico border into the United States. Gatekeepers collect "taxes" on all illicit shipments, including drugs and illegal aliens, moved through the plaza. These taxes are then sent to associated cartel accounts. Gatekeepers use any means necessary to ensure that taxes are collected from smugglers, including extortion, intimidation, and acts of violence. Gatekeepers also bribe corrupt Mexican police and military personnel so that smuggling activities can proceed without interruption.

The high volume of vehicle, pedestrian, and rail traffic that passes through official POEs in the West Texas HIDTA region provides Mexican DTOs with cover under which to smuggle illicit drugs into the United States. Most drugs are smuggled through the three official international POEs located in the HIDTA--El Paso, Fabens, and Presidio--which consist of a total of seven crossings located along the West Texas-Mexico border. Most of these crossings are located within 50 miles of the El Paso POE, which processes most of the cross-border traffic. In 2005 the El Paso POE was the second-largest gateway for both truck and railcar crossings, with more than 740,000 trucks and 143,000 freight railcars crossing the border into West Texas, most of which were not inspected.6 In addition, almost 16 million private vehicles and more than 7.5 million pedestrians passed through the POE in the same year.

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La Entrada al Pacifico, a new trade route expected to be completed in 2010, will most likely increase the flow of illicit drugs and precursor chemicals into the West Texas HIDTA region from Mexico, including cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine from Mexico and cocaine and heroin from South America. The trade route could also facilitate bulk ephedrine and pseudoephedrine smuggling into Mexico and the United States as a result of the increase in Asian cargo that will be transported along this route.7 This four-lane highway will extend from Port Topolobampo in Sinaloa on the Pacific Coast of Mexico through Ojinaga, Chihuahua, to the Presidio POE, serving as a major trade route for the movement of cargo from the Eastern Pacific Ocean to the Southwest Border. A large portion of Asian cargo is expected to be redirected from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to Mexico when this trade route is completed. During construction of this route, the level of rail and vehicular traffic has increased at the Presidio POE; however, truck traffic has not increased substantially. This increased level of activity has not impacted drug flow through the POE. Significantly more infrastructure development is required before the route can support an appreciable increase in traffic, particularly international shipments. For instance, in order for Port Topolobampo to be able to process an increased amount of container traffic, upgrades need to be made, including dredging the seaport to make it deeper for larger ships. Additionally, extensive road construction must be completed in Sinaloa and Chihuahua in the area of Copper Canyon8 before goods can be transported from Port Topolobampo by truck. Currently, railways are used to transport cargo from the seaport through Mexico to the Southwest Border.

Figure 2. La Entrada al Pacifico.

Map showing the route of La Entrada al Pacifico from Port Topolobampo on the Pacific Coast of Mexico to the Presidio Port of Entry.
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Mexican DTOs also transport illicit drugs between POEs, particularly in the eastern portion of the West Texas HIDTA region. Drug traffickers take advantage of the sparse population, relatively open border, and rugged terrain to conceal their drug smuggling activities. Couriers smuggle significant quantities of illicit drugs into the area at numerous low-water crossings, using vehicles, horses, and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) as well as on foot. The number and remoteness of these crossings make it difficult for law enforcement agencies to effectively monitor this activity. For instance, Big Bend National Park is exploited by a number of DTOs that smuggle drugs across the border into the park; once in the park, the smugglers typically disappear into the rugged terrain undetected. As with other areas between POEs along the West Texas border, smugglers use this area because law enforcement presence is limited. Drug smuggling activities in this area are also a potential threat to park visitors, particularly those who inadvertently encounter a smuggling operation in progress.

In addition to overland smuggling, Mexican DTOs use private aircraft to smuggle illicit drugs into the area, but to a much lesser extent. The financial resources of Mexican DTOs as well as their ability to adapt their trafficking operations to avoid law enforcement detection renders this mode of transportation a potentially significant vulnerability to the West Texas HIDTA region. Geographic conditions on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, such as dirt roads, dry lakebeds, and other flat terrain, could be particularly useful to traffickers as makeshift landing strips. Traffickers use makeshift strips in northern Mexico to offload and store illicit drugs near the border pending transportation into the region; they could also use strips on the U.S. side of the border to fly directly into the area, using low-level flights to avoid radar detection.9

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End Notes

5. Gatekeepers are smuggling organizations that oversee the transportation of drugs into the United States from Mexico. Gatekeepers generally operate at the behest of a Mexican DTO and enforce the will of the organization through bribery, intimidation, extortion, beatings, and murder.
6. Data are current as of September 2006.
7. Law enforcement and intelligence reporting indicates that ephedrine and pseudoephedrine are smuggled from Asia, particularly China, to Mexico for use in methamphetamine production in that country or for smuggling overland into the United States for domestic production.
8. Copper Canyon is a mountainous area three times the size of the Grand Canyon located in the Mexican states of Sinaloa and Chihuahua. This area has approximately 120 miles of rough terrain that is a challenge to road construction efforts.
9. The Air and Marine Interdiction Coordination Center (AMICC), which uses radar to track aircraft approaching the U.S.–Mexico border, reports that aircraft often fade from radar near the border and appear to land at airports, airfields, and remote locations in Mexico. Many fades are indicative of traffickers moving drugs to locations near the border and offloading the shipments overland into the United States.


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