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National Drug Intelligence
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Traffickers use various methods and means of conveyance to transport illicit drugs into and through the Michigan HIDTA region, principally from sources of supply along the Southwest Border and from Canada, but also from other domestic drug markets. Private and commercial vehicles are the most common conveyance used by traffickers transporting drugs to the region. Private automobiles and motor homes often are equipped with false compartments or contain manufactured voids in which traffickers conceal drugs. Drug shipments in commercial vehicles are also hidden in false compartments and manufactured voids and are often commingled with legitimate products such as building materials, car parts, heavy machinery, or produce. Traffickers also hire couriers to transport illicit drugs on aircraft, buses, trains, and watercraft. Some traffickers ship drugs into the region through the U.S. Postal Service and parcel delivery services.
African American and Mexican traffickers are the primary transporters of illicit drugs to Detroit and other major drug markets in the Michigan HIDTA region; they generally smuggle illicit drugs from various locations along the Southwest Border and from other drug markets in the United States. These traffickers have developed connections to Mexican sources of supply for multihundred-kilogram quantities of cocaine and marijuana, most of which they distribute throughout the Michigan HIDTA region or in neighboring domestic markets; however, they smuggle some cocaine to Canada. Recent law enforcement reporting indicates that Mexican traffickers have increased the amount of Mexican black tar and brown powder heroin that they transport to Detroit and that sources of supply for Mexican heroin have shifted from Arizona to Texas. African American and Mexican traffickers also transport heroin from sources in Chicago, Miami, New York, Newark, and southern California and from other sources along the Southwest Border. Moreover, Mexican traffickers transport wholesale quantities of SA heroin and, to a lesser extent, ice methamphetamine to the region.
Asian traffickers are the primary transporters of high-potency marijuana and MDMA into the region from Canada. Asian traffickers commonly recruit Indo-Canadian truck drivers to transport these drugs into Michigan and to transport cocaine and drug proceeds derived from sales in the United States to Canada. Asian traffickers recruit college age individuals at Windsor area nightclubs that are frequented by Detroit area residents; many of these clubs admit individuals as young as 19. The traffickers pay the recruits to smuggle drugs across the U.S.-Canada border and deliver them to specific locations in Detroit. To maintain control over the recruited couriers, traffickers obtain their names and addresses and use this information to threaten them or their families if the drugs do not reach the intended destination. These traffickers also recruit members of the NEXUS program, an international air, land, and maritime border crossing initiative, to transport illicit drugs across the U.S.-Canada border (see text box).
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Drug traffickers in Canada are recruiting NEXUS members to transport high-potency Canadian marijuana and MDMA into the United States. Under the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, the NEXUS program allows prescreened, low-risk travelers to be processed with little or no delay by U.S. and Canadian officials at designated highway lanes, airports, and marine locations. Individuals qualifying to participate in NEXUS must meet specific citizenship/residency requirements, pass criminal history and law enforcement checks, and be approved by both the United States and Canada. Unless they are chosen for a selective or random secondary referral, they pass through POEs without inspection. NEXUS is operational at various POEs in Michigan that are commonly used by traffickers to transport illicit drugs, including the Ambassador Bridge, the Detroit/Windsor Tunnel, the Blue Water Bridge, and the International Bridge.
Source: U.S. Customs and Border Protection. |
Most cross-border drug trafficking involves the transportation of high-potency marijuana and MDMA into the region from Canada; however, some cocaine is smuggled by traffickers into Canada from Michigan. Moreover, northbound cocaine seizures are increasing at Michigan POEs. CBSA reportedly seized more cocaine at the Ambassador Bridge in 2007 (418 kg) than was seized during the previous 6 years combined (233 kg). The Ambassador Bridge handles more than $206 billion in cross-border commodities annually and provides numerous opportunities for illicit drug and currency transportation between the United States and Canada. The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is also heavily traveled, providing many opportunities for international drug trafficking. Additionally, in February 2008 CBSA conducted the largest land border cocaine seizure in Canadian history, seizing approximately 237 kilograms at the Blue Water Bridge.
Other criminal groups also transport illicit drugs into the Michigan HIDTA region for local distribution. Albanian traffickers are emerging as significant transporters of high-potency Canadian marijuana and MDMA into the region. Caucasian and African American criminal groups also smuggle MDMA into Michigan from Canada. College students in Michigan travel to Canada to purchase small quantities of MDMA for personal use and limited distribution to friends and associates. Caucasian and Middle Eastern criminal groups transport cocaine and marijuana. West African criminal groups, particularly Nigerian and Ghanaian, transport limited quantities of SWA and SEA heroin into the region. Nigerian criminals, in particular, have increased their involvement in heroin distribution. Previously, the primary role of Nigerian criminals in heroin trafficking was to serve as couriers aboard aircraft transporting heroin for other distributors. However, Nigerian traffickers are increasingly transporting and distributing heroin in the region on their own behalf.
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