National Drug Intelligence Center   South Texas High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Drug Market Analysis 2009   February 2009   UNCLASSIFIED

South Texas Border and San Antonio Market Areas

The South Texas border area and San Antonio are the primary drug markets in the South Texas HIDTA region. The South Texas border area is a principal drug smuggling corridor between the United States and Mexico. San Antonio serves as a transshipment center for cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine smuggled into the United States from Mexico; the city is also a significant consumer market for these drugs.

South Texas Border

Overview

The South Texas border area extends from Val Verde County in the western portion of the South Texas HIDTA region to Willacy and Cameron Counties along the Gulf of Mexico. The population in the region is concentrated in three areas--Del Rio/Eagle Pass, Laredo, and the Lower Rio Grande Valley. The South Texas portion of the U.S.-Mexico border is extremely rural and contains long stretches of uninhabited or sparsely populated land that is often used by drug traffickers to smuggle illicit drug shipments into the United States. They also use these areas to temporarily store drug shipments before transporting them to larger towns and cities within the border area. A bustling cross-border economy in the region provides additional avenues for drug smuggling operations. Traffickers exploit the transportation infrastructure that supports cross-border business to transport illicit drug shipments to other areas of Texas and the United States.

Production

Illicit drug production is a lesser law enforcement concern than is cross-border drug smuggling in the South Texas border area. Foreign-produced drugs dominate local drug markets throughout the border area and greatly minimize the need or desire among abusers and local distributors to produce illicit drugs locally. In addition, the cost of producing drugs locally is higher than purchasing the drugs from local distributors. Virtually all methamphetamine production that impacts the South Texas border area takes place in Mexico. Law enforcement officers in the 13 South Texas HIDTA counties that make up the border area have not reported any methamphetamine laboratory seizures since 2005, according to National Seizure System (NSS) statistics. (See Table 4 in San Antonio Market Area section.) Bexar County is the primary location for the limited methamphetamine production that takes place in the South Texas HIDTA region. Marijuana production is also considered minimal in border counties. Even if cannabis cultivation and marijuana production were cost effective, local distributors could not compete with Mexican DTOs that distribute low-cost Mexican marijuana in local markets. It is quite likely, however, that a limited number of local distributors and marijuana abusers cultivate cannabis and produce personal use quantities of marijuana in their private residences. Crack cocaine is produced in limited quantities in the South Texas border area, but most local distributors and abusers obtain the drug from sources in San Antonio and Houston.

Transportation

The South Texas HIDTA region is one of the most significant drug smuggling corridors along the U.S.-Mexico border. Seventeen border crossings are located within the South Texas HIDTA region; Mexican DTOs exploit the high volume of cross-border traffic at these crossings to smuggle illicit drugs into the United States. The South Texas HIDTA region also borders the most lucrative smuggling corridor along the U.S.-Mexico border--the Nuevo Laredo plaza--located directly across the Rio Grande River from Laredo at the Laredo POE. In addition, the highest concentration of identified smuggling corridors is located along the U.S.-Mexico border in South Texas. Mexican drug traffickers base their operations in the cities of Ciudad Acuña, Piedras Negras, Nuevo Laredo, Ciudad Alemán, Reynosa, and Matamoros and use the areas as principal drug smuggling corridors into the South Texas HIDTA region. Traffickers transit the corridors using overland transportation methods such as private vehicles, commercial tractor-trailers, passenger buses, and trains. Traffickers also use the Eagle Pass, Laredo, and Brownsville, Texas, POEs to cross the U.S.-Mexico border into South Texas by rail. In addition to being the busiest commercial POE, Laredo also handles more rail traffic than any other Southwest Border POE. The Falfurrias and Sarita Border Patrol Checkpoints, located in Brooks and Kenedy Counties, respectively--both of which are Houston HIDTA-designated counties--and the Hebbronville Border Patrol Checkpoint, located in Jim Hogg County, are situated on primary transportation routes leading from the South Texas border area to interior distribution centers. U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agents assigned to these checkpoints seize significant quantities of marijuana and cocaine annually, further illustrating the role and importance of the South Texas HIDTA in domestic drug trafficking.

Figure 2. South Texas HIDTA region transportation infrastructure.

Drug traffickers use the South Texas border area as a key storage center for drug shipments smuggled into the country from Mexico; they often store shipments temporarily in the South Texas border area, particularly in the Lower Rio Grande Valley and Laredo, before transporting them to markets throughout the country. Traffickers use ranches, warehouses, residences, and trailers in these locations to store drug shipments, pending future transportation and distribution arrangements. For example, law enforcement agents seized more than 7,000 pounds of marijuana being stored in a private residence near Roma in April 2008.

South Texas is one of the busiest and most influential drug smuggling corridors along the U.S.-Mexico border, and law enforcement officers in the region seize large quantities of illicit drugs annually. Available seizure data indicate that the amount of cocaine seized in HIDTA counties in the South Texas border area in 2008 fell well below totals recorded in 2007, while heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine surpassed seizure totals from that same year. (See Table 2.) The increase in methamphetamine seizures in the South Texas border area reverses a trend of decreasing seizure amounts that began in 2005 when South Texas ranked behind only California in the amount of methamphetamine seized along the U.S.-Mexico border. Several HIDTA counties, including Cameron, Hidalgo, and Webb, reported significant increases in methamphetamine seizure totals in 2008 compared to 2007. Noteworthy among these is the October 2008 seizure of 19.59 kilograms of methamphetamine along the Rio Grande River near Laredo, Webb County. Seizures of methamphetamine between POEs are rather uncommon and account for approximately 2 percent of all methamphetamine seizures along the Southwest Border. Heroin seizure amounts for 2008 finished well above seizure amounts from 2007, most likely the result of an uncharacteristically large seizure of 21 kilograms of heroin at the Eagle Pass POE in Maverick County.

Table 2. Illicit Drugs Seized in South Texas HIDTA Counties Bordering Mexico, in Kilograms, 2006-2008

Source: El Paso Intelligence Center, February 2, 2009.
NR--None Reported.

Fluctuations in seizure amounts in South Texas are most likely being influenced by changes in smuggling routes implemented by traffickers as the result of widespread counterdrug operations implemented by the United States, the government of Mexico, and violence stemming from these operations. Mexican law enforcement officers and military personnel are attempting to disrupt and dismantle the smuggling networks of Mexico's most powerful drug cartels. In addition, rival cartels are still competing for control of lucrative smuggling routes into the United States, most notably in Baja California, Sonora, and Chihuahua, Mexico. These factors have caused widespread violence in Mexican border states, and DTOs operating there may be attempting to avoid these violence-prone areas by smuggling higher-priced methamphetamine and heroin shipments through the states of Nuevo León and Tamaulipas, which border the South Texas HIDTA region. Counterdrug operations also most likely contributed to the decrease in cocaine seizures in the South Texas HIDTA region during 2008. Law enforcement pressure, large cocaine seizures, and arrests of high-level cartel members continue to hamper the ability of Mexican DTOs to acquire large quantities of cocaine from South America, transport them to Mexico, and smuggle the drugs into the South Texas HIDTA region, contributing to the significant decline in cocaine seizures reported in 2008.

The Gulf Coast of Texas, including portions of the South Texas HIDTA region, is a common destination for maritime drug smuggling operations originating in Mexico. The Gulf Cartel, which controls drug trafficking through northeast Mexico, is the dominant trafficking organization engaging in maritime smuggling to South Texas. Mexican drug traffickers frequently use lanchas to transport marijuana and cocaine shipments to coastal areas of South Texas, often operating at night to exploit the limited law enforcement presence in these areas. However, traffickers quickly adjust their maritime smuggling operations when confronted by increased interdiction assets along the coast or in the Gulf of Mexico. As a result of maritime smuggling operations, law enforcement officials periodically encounter marijuana and cocaine bundles that have washed ashore.

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Distribution

Wholesale distribution networks controlled by Mexican DTOs are the primary distribution threat to the region. Wholesale distribution networks operating in the South Texas border area extend from source areas in South America and Mexico to all regions of the United States. The South Texas border area plays a pivotal role in these distribution operations--not only is the region a significant cross-border smuggling area, but wholesale drug distributors in the South Texas border area greatly affect drug availability and distribution throughout much of the United States. Once cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamine shipments have been smuggled into the United States, drug traffickers often store them temporarily in stash houses in communities throughout the South Texas border area. At these stash houses, drug shipments are either consolidated into large shipments or broken down into smaller quantities for individual distributors. From these locations, cells arrange for the transportation and distribution of the drug shipments to other distribution centers in Texas, such as Dallas, Houston, and San Antonio, or directly to other U.S. drug markets. In addition, drug distributors from across the country travel to the South Texas border area to purchase illicit drugs for distribution in their home markets.

Drug-Related Crime

Drug-related crime and violence are persistent threats in the South Texas HIDTA region, particularly in the border area. The DTOs and gangs operating in the border area often commit assault, automobile theft, burglary, extortion, home invasion robbery, kidnapping, and murder to facilitate smuggling activities, to protect their operations from rival trafficking organizations or gangs, or to collect payments owed to them. Drug-related violence emanating from Mexico also threatens the South Texas HIDTA region, but violence in South Texas HIDTA counties that border Mexico has not risen to levels experienced in Mexico. However, violent attacks perpetrated by drug traffickers do occur in the border area. For example, since January 2008 law enforcement officials from Laredo to Brownsville have reported at least 32 kidnappings and home invasion robberies. Many other similar incidents are not reported because the victims are often involved in drug trafficking activities and seek to avoid exposing themselves to further law enforcement scrutiny. High-ranking Mexican drug traffickers and assassins easily cross the international border into the United States, as evidenced by the arrests of Gulf Cartel gatekeepers in McAllen during the past year. In addition, law enforcement officials in the South Texas border area have also arrested Los Zetas members as well as hit men working for the Gulf Cartel. These hit men and enforcement teams are usually heavily armed and have access to a variety of weapons, including assault rifles and hand grenades. Mexico's drug cartels stockpile weapons along both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border for use against rival traffickers and law enforcement officers. In November 2008 Mexican law enforcement officials seized more than 400 firearms, 500,000 rounds of ammunition, 150 grenades, and other explosives from a Gulf Cartel stash house in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, across the Rio Grande River from McAllen.

Abuse

Illicit drug abuse is a serious concern for law enforcement and public health officials in the South Texas HIDTA region. The highest levels of illicit drug abuse in the South Texas border area are in Cameron, Hidalgo, Starr, and Webb Counties--the most heavily populated counties in the South Texas border area. (The highest levels of drug abuse in the entire South Texas HIDTA region are in Bexar County.) Drug abuse among adolescents is of particular concern. A recent survey conducted by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) revealed higher levels of powder cocaine or crack cocaine use among students along the U.S.-Mexico border in Texas than among students who live in nonborder areas. For example, 20 percent of high school seniors along the border reported previous cocaine use, compared with 11 percent of students in nonborder areas. However, according to 2007 data, more adolescents in border counties sought treatment for marijuana than for any other illicit drug. Most adolescents receiving treatment for marijuana abuse reported first using the drug at 12 or 13 years of age. Heroin abuse among adolescents is also a concern, particularly in Webb County, which reported the highest number of youth treatment admissions for heroin abuse. Methamphetamine abuse remains low throughout the South Texas border area. According to DSHS treatment data, no counties in the South Texas border area reported more than 10 admissions to publicly funded treatment facilities for methamphetamine abuse in 2007. (See Table 3.)

Table 3. Number of Substance Abuse Treatment Admissions to Publicly Funded Facilities by HIDTA Counties Bordering Mexico and by Drug, 2005-2007**

Source: Texas Department of State Health Services.
* Represents fewer than 10 treatment admissions as a result of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act confidentiality requirements.
** The latest year for which treatment data are available.

Note: Actual treatment admissions may be higher than those depicted as a result of reporting treatment admissions for specific drugs or age groups in which fewer than 10 persons received treatment. For example, the chart above indicates that there were 32 treatment admissions for marijuana abuse in Dimmit County in 2007; however, this number does not reflect the fewer than 10 adult treatment admissions reported.

Illicit Finance

The Lower Rio Grande Valley in the South Texas border area is one of the primary smuggling corridors for bulk cash shipments destined for Mexico. Traffickers exploit the high concentration of border crossings and cross-border traffic in this area for bulk cash smuggling operations. Law enforcement reporting and seizure data reveal that Brownsville, Edinburg, Mission, McAllen, Pharr, Roma, and Rio Grande City are primary destinations in the area for bulk-cash shipments originating in the eastern half of the United States, whereas cash shipments originating from western markets of the United States typically flow through points of entry in California and Arizona. Locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Minnesota, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, and Virginia have all been identified as sources of bulk-cash shipments seized en route to or within the South Texas border area. Additionally, traffickers in the area capitalize on its location to move their illicit proceeds into Mexico.

Traffickers in the South Texas border area also use other money laundering methods in an attempt to conceal their illicit drug proceeds. Some traffickers establish cash-intensive businesses, including automobile repair shops, restaurants, construction companies, and transportation companies, to mask the nature of their funds. They commingle illicit drug proceeds with profits generated by these businesses to conceal the source of the funds. Some traffickers also use money services businesses, such as electronic wire transfer businesses and money transmitters, to launder their drug proceeds. Wire transfer businesses and money transmitters offer these traffickers a quick, electronic, and often anonymous means of laundering their drug proceeds. Traffickers conceal their illegitimate transactions among the large volume of legitimate transfers that take place daily. Money transmitters are located throughout the United States and enable drug traffickers in most drug markets to wire drug proceeds to the South Texas border area or directly to Mexico. When funds are transferred to this area, they are often collected and then transported in bulk to Mexico.

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