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National Drug Intelligence Center |
Illicit drug production in the W/B HIDTA region is limited to the conversion of powder cocaine to crack and occasional marijuana and methamphetamine production.
Most of the powder cocaine purchased by retail distributors is converted to crack prior to distribution within the region. Retail-level crack distributors typically purchase kilogram quantities or lesser amounts of powder cocaine from midlevel suppliers within the W/B HIDTA region, primarily in urban areas such as Baltimore, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. They then take the powder cocaine to their home areas and convert it to crack, typically in residential settings.
Limited amounts of marijuana are produced in the W/B HIDTA region from cannabis cultivated at both indoor and outdoor grow sites. However, the amount of marijuana produced at indoor grow sites, especially in the Baltimore and Richmond areas, may be increasing as demand for high-potency marijuana rises in these areas. Various marijuana producers in the region, particularly Vietnamese criminal groups, are increasingly replicating methods used at indoor grow sites in Canada, such as using elaborate hydroponic equipment, bypassing electrical meters, and using entire buildings for grow operations. Additionally, many rural areas within the region are conducive to outdoor cannabis plots because of the temperate climate and the large areas of remote terrain, such as deep valleys, steep and rocky hillsides, and vast wooded areas.
Powder methamphetamine production in the HIDTA region is limited--no methamphetamine laboratories have been seized in the HIDTA area since 2006. Most of the methamphetamine production in the area takes place outside the HIDTA region in southwestern Virginia. According to National Seizure System (NSS) data, the number of clandestine methamphetamine laboratories and dumpsites seized in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C., decreased from 79 in 2004 to 20 in 2008. (See Table 2.) Most local laboratory capacities range from multigram to multiounce production. Methamphetamine laboratories are found in rural areas, in warehouses or storage facilities, or on remote land; often the laboratories are nonoperational at the time of seizure. Declining methamphetamine production is most likely the result of increased law enforcement pressure and Virginia legislation restricting the sale of pseudoephedrine.
Table 2. Methamphetamine Laboratory Incidents* in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, 2004-2008
| Year | DC | MD | VA | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 0 | 1 | 19 | 20 |
| 2007 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 22 |
| 2006 | 0 | 3 | 21 | 24 |
| 2005 | 0 | 3 | 51 | 54 |
| 2004 | 1 | 1 | 77 | 79 |
Source: National Seizure System, data as of December 31, 2008.
*Methamphetamine
laboratory incidents include seizures of laboratories, dumpsites, chemicals, glassware,
and equipment.
The W/B HIDTA region's extensive and diverse transportation infrastructure is routinely exploited by traffickers to transport large quantities of drugs to, through, and within the region. The interstate highway system and extensive railway system provide easy transit between drug markets in the region and domestic source areas. Interstate 95, the major north-south transportation corridor on the East Coast, provides drug traffickers with ready access to wholesale drug markets, such as Miami and New York City. Additionally, U.S. Highway 1 in northern Virginia and Interstates 70 and 83 in Maryland are significant drug transportation routes. Interstates 64 and 85, which provide access to highways transiting the Richmond area, enable traffickers to transport large quantities of drugs from the southwestern and southeastern United States to the HIDTA region. Drug traffickers also ship drugs directly to the region through four international airports and two international seaports, including the Port of Baltimore, one of the busiest container and cruise ports in the United States. (See Figure 2.)
Figure 2. Washington/Baltimore HIDTA Region Transportation Infrastructure
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Largest-Ever Heroin Seizure by Maryland State Police on Interstate 95 In February 2008, Maryland State Police troopers seized 32 pounds of heroin with an estimated value of $4.4 million. The heroin was seized during a traffic stop on northbound I-95 in Cecil County from a vehicle owned by a Florida resident. The trooper, who stopped the vehicle for a speeding offense, became suspicious of possible drug transportation after observing that the driver seemed nervous and was avoiding eye contact; he then requested a drug-detection canine. The dog alerted to the presence of drugs, and in a subsequent search of the vehicle, troopers located a hidden compartment, built into the engine's firewall, that contained the drug. Source: Maryland State Police. |
DTOs use a variety of methods to transport drugs into and through the W/B HIDTA region, the most common of which are private, rental, and commercial vehicles and package delivery services. Traffickers also use couriers on commercial aircraft, air freight services, and sea cargo shipments to transport drugs to the region. The most innovative DTOs use multiple transportation methods to avoid detection and increase the likelihood of successful delivery. Law enforcement reporting indicates that traffickers increasingly transport drugs into the W/B HIDTA region in vehicles with hidden compartments or concealed among or commingled with legitimate shipments of airfreight.
Drug transporters in the region are increasingly using alternative highway routes and navigation technology to reduce the risk of interdiction and to increase their rates of success in delivering illicit drug shipments. According to law enforcement reporting, DTOs are using indirect routes such as state routes and secondary roads to transport drugs to the area to avoid law enforcement interdiction efforts on interstate highways. Moreover, traffickers are using low-cost global positioning system (GPS) technology to navigate alternative and unfamiliar routes.
Drug transporters routinely conceal shipments of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine, and CPDs in oil pans, manifolds, brake drums, drive shafts, radiators, and gas tanks in private and commercial vehicles. Additionally, many traffickers use false compartments, including some that are operated electronically. They have also concealed drug shipments in many other items, such as furniture, stuffed animals, blankets, women's undergarments, and baby diapers or by commingling them with shipments of legitimate goods in commercial vehicles.
Package delivery services are increasingly being used by drug traffickers in the W/B HIDTA region, particularly to transport marijuana, which is typically sent in multipound parcels from the Southwest Border area. Many drug traffickers prefer to use package delivery services because they can monitor the progress of shipments on the Internet. If a shipment is delayed, they assume that law enforcement has intercepted the parcel and refuse delivery to avoid arrest. Drug traffickers routinely use relatively unsophisticated techniques to conceal drugs shipped in parcels, such as hiding them in ceramic statues, candles, bubble bath containers, coffee cans, drink bottles, blenders, cooking pots, VCRs, or computer hard drives.
Heroin is generally transported to the W/B HIDTA region by Colombian and Dominican DTOs from New York City; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Los Angeles, California; Florida; and the Caribbean Islands. Mexican and Guatemalan DTOs also supply heroin to retail distributors in the area. West African criminal groups are increasingly distributing large quantities of heroin--obtained from sources in New York City or directly from Afghanistan--to drug dealers in Baltimore. SWA heroin is often shipped from India or Pakistan by international mail to Baltimore, where it is distributed in the city and smaller communities in the surrounding area.
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Large Quantities of Heroin and Cocaine Smuggled From Overseas In March 2008 a federal grand jury indicted 11 defendants for conspiracy to import and sell 5 kilograms or more of cocaine and 1 kilogram or more of heroin during a 7-year period that ended in February 2008. According to the three-count indictment, the defendants had conspired to import large quantities of cocaine and heroin into the United States from Spain, Panama, Barbados, St. Thomas, and Dominica, intending for the drugs to be sold in Maryland, New York, and elsewhere. The defendants had recruited U.S. citizens as "mules" to travel to and from the United States. The mules were fitted with girdles and loose-fitting clothing to conceal drugs and drug proceeds that were strapped and taped to their bodies. The defendants paid the mules thousands of dollars to transport the drugs and money and gave them instructions on what to say and do should they be confronted or arrested by law enforcement. Members of the conspiracy had allegedly been distributing heroin and cocaine to customers in Baltimore and New York. Source: U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. |
Wholesale quantities of cocaine are transported to the W/B HIDTA region and supplied to local traffickers primarily by Colombian or Dominican DTOs based in New York City. However, Mexican DTOs from the southwestern United States are increasingly involved in cocaine trafficking, especially in southern Virginia and the Shenandoah Valley, adjacent to the HIDTA region. Mexican DTOs that have established transshipment centers in Georgia and North Carolina are supplying cocaine as well as methamphetamine to the region through these centers. Other traffickers also transport cocaine to the region, including Guatemalan traffickers who transport cocaine into Baltimore and Jamaican traffickers who transport cocaine into Richmond. In addition, an African American criminal group transported multikilogram quantities of cocaine from the Chicago, Illinois, area to sell in Prince William County, Virginia.
Most commercial-grade marijuana available in the region is transported by Mexican DTOs from Mexico through southwestern states such as California, Arizona, and Texas. Vietnamese criminal groups are the principal transporters of high-potency marijuana, smuggling the drug from Canada into the W/B HIDTA region. Additionally, Jamaican criminal groups transport some marijuana from Florida and the Caribbean into the region. Many local marijuana distributors have developed sources of supply in southwestern states; they either travel to those states to pick up multipound quantities of marijuana or have it shipped to them, primarily by overnight mail services.
Most of the methamphetamine available in the W/B HIDTA region is transported to the area by Mexican DTOs from Georgia, North Carolina, and Texas; however, some rural locations within the area also are occasionally supplied by OMGs that receive methamphetamine from other OMGs outside the region. Vietnamese DTOs also transport gram to ounce quantities of methamphetamine into the region from Canada, occasionally in tablet form. Additionally, methamphetamine abusers who are members of the region's homosexual community transport some ice methamphetamine to urban areas, primarily the District of Columbia, from New York City or California.
ODDs, such as MDMA and PCP, are often transported to the W/B HIDTA region for subsequent distribution. MDMA available in the region is transported primarily by Vietnamese traffickers to Washington, D.C., and Baltimore from Toronto, Canada; New York City; or Philadelphia. PCP is transported to the W/B HIDTA region, primarily the Washington, D.C., area, from California by African American distributors and abusers traveling aboard commercial aircraft. PCP is typically concealed in plastic bottles and placed in checked baggage. New York City-based traffickers often serve as brokers between the PCP distributors in the region and California sources. Additionally, some members of OMGs and abusers who frequent the club scene in the region transport PCP to the area from New York City; Newark, New Jersey; and Philadelphia for limited local distribution.
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