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Transportation

The Midwest HIDTA is a significant transit area for illicit drugs; its central geographic location is widely used by traffickers who transport cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, and other illicit drugs into the area from the Southwest and Northwest7 Border regions en route to midwest and northeast markets including Chicago and New York. Major interstates that traverse the HIDTA region include Interstates 29, 35, 44, 55, 70, 80, 90, and 94. (See Figure 4.) These highways are extensively used by traffickers to transport illicit drugs into and through the HIDTA region. As such, many opportunities exist for the interdiction of drugs and illicit proceeds in the region--and recent seizures on I-80 highlight the utility of interdiction programs in the HIDTA region. For example, on October 10, 2007, the Nebraska State Patrol seized $548,895 in Sarpy County from a commercial vehicle en route from Detroit, Michigan, to Pasadena, California, and on October 14, 2007, the Iowa State Patrol in Polk County seized $310,080 concealed in the exhaust pipe of a private vehicle en route from Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Phoenix, Arizona.

Figure 4. Midwest HIDTA region transportation infrastructure.

Map of the Midwest HIDTA region showing the transportation infrastructure.
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Investigative information captured from highway seizures reveals that most illicit drug shipments destined for the region originate in Arizona, California, and Texas. Common source cities identified by Kansas Highway Patrol and Missouri Highway Patrol interdiction efforts include El Paso, Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Diego, and Tucson.

Mexican DTOs and criminal groups transport most of the ice methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and Mexican black tar and brown powder heroin available in the HIDTA region. These organizations primarily use commercial and private vehicles with increasingly sophisticated hidden compartments to transport these drugs into the region. Mexican DTOs frequently recruit unaffiliated Mexican immigrants living in the region to transport illicit drugs from the Southwest Border to the region, thereby insulating themselves from law enforcement detection in the event of interdiction.

African American, Asian, and Caucasian street gangs, criminal groups, and independent dealers transport powder and crack cocaine, Mexican marijuana, and PCP to the region, but less frequently than in the past. These local, retail-level distributors avoid the risk of interdiction and law enforcement detection by purchasing illicit drugs from Mexican wholesalers in Kansas City, Wichita, and other HIDTA markets. African American street gang members based in Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis also transport crack and powder cocaine and marijuana to metropolitan areas in Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

Asian trafficking groups transport MDMA and Canadian marijuana into and through the HIDTA region. Additionally, Caucasian trafficking groups transport Mexican and Canadian marijuana, Mexican methamphetamine, and limited quantities of MDMA to the region.

End Note

7. Law enforcement believes that available arrest and seizure statistics do not accurately reflect the extent of drug trafficking over the U.S.-Canada Border and underrepresent the level of smuggling on the U.S.-Canada Border.

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