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Production

Increased methamphetamine production in Mexico and subsequent smuggling of the drug into the Los Angeles HIDTA region in 2009, reduced the need for local methamphetamine production. Data indicate that law enforcement officers seized fewer methamphetamine laboratories in the Los Angeles HIDTA region in 2009 (25) than in 2008 (49).e (See Table 2.) Most laboratories seized in the region are small-scale operations capable of producing less than 2 pounds of methamphetamine per production cycle. Seizures of major laboratories and superlabs decreased from 13 in 2008 to 11 in 2009 (See Table 2.)

Los Angeles HIDTA initiatives report a 703 percent increase in the number of indoor cannabis plants seized in the region from 2008 to 2009. (See Table 3.) Asian DTOs and criminal groups are the principal operators of indoor cannabis grow operations that yield high-potency marijuana, often locating them in upscale homes in the region. Caucasian and Mexican DTOs and criminal groups also cultivate cannabis indoors in the region. The number of outdoor cannabis plants seized within the LA HIDTA region decreased 64 percent from 2008 to 2009. Mexican DTOs and criminal groups are the primary outdoor cannabis cultivators in the Los Angeles HIDTA region, usually operating grow sites on federal public lands in the San Bernardino, Cleveland, and Angeles National Forests.

Table 3. Indoor and Outdoor Cannabis Plants Seized in the Los Angeles HIDTA Region, 2008-2009

Plants seized Indoor Outdoor Total
2008 641 173,016 173,657
2009 5,150 63,028 68,179
% Change +703 -64 -61

Source: Los Angeles High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

Decreased PCP laboratory seizures in the Los Angeles HIDTA region indicate that PCP traffickers may have been producing the drug less frequently in 2009 than in 2008. (See Table 4.) African American and Hispanic criminal groups and street gangs produce small amounts of PCP in the Los Angeles HIDTA region. They most often produce PCP in the Los Angeles, Compton, and North Long Beach areas of Los Angeles County for local and national-level distribution.

Table 4. PCP Laboratory Seizures in the Los Angeles HIDTA Region by County, 2005-2009

County 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Los Angeles 4 3 2 1 2
Orange 1 0 0 0 0
Riverside 0 0 0 0 0
San Bernardino 0 0 0 2 0
Total 5 3 2 3 2

Source: National Seizure System, current as of March 10, 2010.

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Transportation

Los Angeles-based Mexican DTOs and criminal groups use Mexican cartel-controlled plazasf along the California-Mexico border to transport wholesale quantities of illicit drugs into the Los Angeles HIDTA region and to transport drug proceeds in the reverse direction. Once in southern California, these traffickers transport illicit drugs to and through the HIDTA region overland on Interstates 5 and 15. For example, on January 7, 2010, the North State Initiative California Multi-Jurisdictional Methamphetamine Enforcement Team seized 4 pounds of methamphetamine from a vehicle traveling north on I-5 through Shasta County, California. The drugs allegedly originated in Los Angeles and were being transported to Yakima, Washington.

According to data from the Los Angeles HIDTA Clearinghouse Domestic Highway Enforcement Unit (LA CLEAR), most of the drugs seized en route to or departing from the Los Angeles HIDTA region in 2009 were shipped in private vehicles (734), rental vehicles (205), and tractor-trailers (42). A significant number of these seizures (280) involved vehicles equipped with false compartments. Collectively, these highway seizures involved almost 70,261 pounds of marijuana (including some high-potency marijuana), 2,561 kilograms of cocaine, 1,037 pounds of methamphetamine, 78 kilograms of heroin, 1 gallon of PCP, and more than 1,143,527 MDMA tablets.g


Footnotes

e. These figures do not include the number of chemical, equipment, or dumpsite seizures, which are also associated with methamphetamine production.

f. A plaza is a geographic area in which drug smuggling is controlled by a DTO.

g. Data include only those reported interdictions involving seizures submitted to LA CLEAR from agencies and HIDTAs throughout the United States that have a nexus to California.


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