Transportation - Michigan HIDTA Drug Market Analysis

The diverse transportation infrastructure of the Michigan HIDTA region is exploited by DTOs to transport drugs into and through the region from source areas in Mexico and Canada. Private and commercial vehicles are used by traffickers to transport drugs along Interstates 94, 75, and 69 and U.S. Route 23 into and through the region; traffickers also employ couriers on trains, buses, and private and commercial aircraft to transport illicit drugs. Illicit drugs transported in passenger vehicles are often placed in hidden compartments; drugs transported in commercial vehicles generally are placed in hidden compartments or commingled with legitimate products such as produce, car parts, building materials, or heavy machinery. Some criminals also ship marijuana, cocaine, and MDMA through the U.S. Postal Service and parcel delivery services in order to reduce transportation costs and increase profits.

Michigan's common border with Canada offers traffickers numerous opportunities to transport marijuana and MDMA from Canada into the HIDTA region. The Ambassador Bridge is the main North American trade link between the United States and Canada, handling more than $206 billion in cross-border commodities annually and providing a major conduit for drug transportation from Canada into the United States; it is the world's busiest commercial border crossing and North America's busiest international border crossing. More than 13,000 trucks and 25,000 automobiles cross the Ambassador Bridge daily. The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is also a heavily used point of entry from Canada into the United States, handling over 27,000 vehicles daily. Large quantities of Canadian marijuana and MDMA are routinely seized as traffickers attempt to transport these drugs from Canada into the United States through Detroit. (See Table 1.) Additionally, there are approximately 950,000 registered watercraft in Michigan and 1.4 million registered watercraft in Ontario, Canada, some of which are used to transport illicit drugs across the border, usually in remote areas.

Technology Assists in Border Seizures

Law enforcement agencies use various high-technology tools to detect illicit drug shipments entering the HIDTA region, particularly from Canada. Law enforcement officials use Mobile VACISŽ, a nonintrusive gamma ray imaging system,^a to scan large vehicles such as tractor-trailers that are used by traffickers to transport illegal drugs across the U.S.-Canada border. VACIS has resulted in numerous seizures, including the detection of approximately 600,000 MDMA tablets found in a hidden compartment in a truck in December 2006; this was the largest MDMA seizure ever in the Detroit area.

Source: Drug Enforcement Administration.
a. The Mobile VACIS inspection system consists of a truck-mounted, nonintrusive gamma ray system that produces images that are used to search vehicles and cargo for the purpose of identifying contraband, including illicit drugs and explosive materials. The Mobile VACIS system utilizes gamma rays as opposed to x-rays, which allows for a lower operating cost, smaller operating space, safer operations, and better system reliability.

African American and Mexican DTOs are the principal transporters of cocaine and commercial-grade marijuana into and through the Michigan HIDTA region, particularly from source areas in Mexico and states such as Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, and Texas. Mexican traffickers also transport wholesale quantities of SA heroin, methamphetamine and, to a lesser extent, Mexican brown powder and black tar heroin into the region.

Table 1. Marijuana and MDMA Seizures at the Detroit POE, in Kilograms, 2004-2006

Asian (often Vietnamese) DTOs and East Indian truck drivers (who are employed by Asian DTOs) and, to a lesser extent, eastern European DTOs transport wholesale quantities of high-potency Canadian marijuana and MDMA into the area; on their return trips, these DTOs often smuggle powder cocaine and money derived from sales in U.S. drug markets into Canada.

Traffickers also transport other illicit drugs into the HIDTA region. African American and Middle Eastern traffickers transport SWA heroin and very limited quantities of SEA heroin into the region, predominantly from New York City. Independent African American and Caucasian dealers and Michigan college students transport MDMA from Canada into the region. Additionally, local Caucasian abusers transport pharmaceutical drugs, which they obtain from doctor-shopping in neighboring states, into their home communities.

Various DTOs, criminal groups, and independent dealers from the region and neighboring areas transport most of the drugs available in the Flint area from Detroit and most of the drugs available in the Kalamazoo-Grand Rapids area from Detroit or Chicago. Recently, some Chicago-based criminal groups have altered their methods to bypass Chicago and I-94, the most direct route to Michigan, when transporting illicit drugs from the Southwest Border area to the Kalamazoo-Grand Rapids area. These groups now travel through Indianapolis, Columbus, and Cleveland in an effort to circumvent law enforcement pressure in Chicago.