National Drug Intelligence Center   California Border Alliance Group Drug Market Analysis 2009   March 2009

Strategic Drug Threat Developments

• Mexican ice methamphetamine availability declined in the CBAG region in 2008, quite likely the result of enhanced precursor chemical control restrictions and law enforcement efforts in Mexico and increased methamphetamine seizures at the California section of the U.S.-Mexico border.
   
• Heroin seizures along the U.S.-Mexico border in California increased significantly from 2007 to 2008, most likely the result of reduced opium poppy eradication and expanded heroin production in Mexico.
   
• Increasing indoor marijuana production in the CBAG region is a result of rising demand for higher-potency marijuana, both regionally and nationally. Many cultivators in the region have relocated or established their operations indoors because of the reduced risk of law enforcement detection and the increased profits generated from high-potency marijuana.
   
• Drug-related violence along the California-Mexico border is escalating, fueled by conflicts among Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) battling for control of major drug smuggling routes in Baja California and by clashes between DTOs and Mexican military and law enforcement personnel participating in counterdrug operations. Some of this violence, in the form of assaults, kidnappings, home invasion robberies, and homicides, is affecting U.S. communities near the border, U.S. citizens who visit Mexico, and U.S. law enforcement personnel who patrol border crossings.
   
• Illicit drug abuse in the CBAG region, particularly the abuse of marijuana and ice methamphetamine, is at high levels. The abundant supply of drugs transported across the U.S.-Mexico border provides drug abusers in the region with ready access to most illicit drugs.

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CBAG Overview

The CBAG region, which consists of San Diego and Imperial Counties and encompasses California's entire 140-mile portion of the U.S.-Mexico border, is a principal drug smuggling corridor for illicit drugs entering the country from Mexico. The CBAG region is a significant storage location as well as a regional and national transportation and distribution center. Mexican DTOs and criminal groups smuggle significant quantities of methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and heroin to stash houses in the CBAG region and then transport the illicit drugs to destinations throughout the country.

The population of the CBAG region, along with that of the Mexican cities located along the U.S.-Mexico border in California, accounts for 60 percent of the population along the entire U.S.-Mexico border. San Diego, California (the largest U.S. city on the U.S.-Mexico border), and its sister city,1 Tijuana (the second largest Mexican city on the border), have a combined population greater than that of any other border area. The cultural connections among the large population in the border area of California enable drug traffickers to exploit familial ties and extensive contacts on both sides of the border to assist in drug trafficking operations.

A high volume of cross-border vehicle and foot traffic facilitates illicit drug smuggling from Mexico into the CBAG region. The U.S. Department of Transportation, Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports that 30,897,447 personal vehicles and 12,228,827 pedestrians crossed the U.S.-Mexico border into California in 2007 (the latest year for which data are available). The daily movement of individuals and goods across the border provides innumerable opportunities for traffickers to conceal smuggling activities among legitimate traffic. Mexican DTOs typically enter the CBAG region at or between the six land POEs along the U.S.-Mexico border in California: Andrade, Calexico East, Calexico West, Otay Mesa (the busiest commercial border crossing between California and Mexico), San Ysidro, and Tecate.

An extensive highway and rail transportation network facilitates commercial trade and traffic across the border, creating an ideal environment for drug trafficking operations. Mexican DTOs transport illicit drugs across the border using private and commercial vehicles, buses, rail, and package delivery services. Once in the United States, drugs typically are transported overland along State Routes 86 and 111 originating in Imperial County and Interstates 5, 8, 15, and 805, highways that link the region to drug markets throughout the United States. (See Figure 1 in Preface.)

The CBAG region is also vulnerable to air and maritime smuggling from Mexico. DTOs use commercial and private aircraft to smuggle illicit drugs from Mexico into and through the region. Additionally, DTOs use watercraft to retrieve drugs either in Mexico or from larger ships located offshore and transport them into the area by blending with commercial and recreational maritime traffic.

Footnote

1. Sister cities are separate border cities located in proximity to one another; one of the cities is located in Mexico and the other in the United States. These cities often constitute binational and bicultural communities between which a high volume of individuals commute for work or school daily.

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