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A New Low: Baby Blankets Used to Smuggle Heroin

May 23, 2007 5:49 PM

A_new_low_baby__mn A large-scale heroin trafficking organization has been dismantled in what officials call a "major blow" to one of the primary source regions for heroin in the United States.

Drug smugglers lined suitcases, blue jeans and other items of clothing and even baby blankets to get past security and law enforcement officials, according to a DEA agent on the case.

A U.S. Attorney unsealed 10 indictments today charging 44 people with various drug trafficking, money laundering and counterfeiting offenses, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.   

The charges stem from "Operation Jacket Racket," a DEA-coordinated narcotics investigation targeting a large-scale Colombian heroin drug trafficking organization with distribution cells in San Diego, New York City and Newark, N.J. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Secret Service and the Internal Revenue Service participated in the investigation. 

The investigation also targeted multiple Mexico-based heroin transportation cells involved in the importation of large quantities of heroin into the United States from three sources of supply in Colombia over an extended period of time, according to DEA. 

"This is a significant blow to a giant source of heroin in the U.S.," said DEA Headquarters' spokesman Steven Robertson.   

According to the indictments, upon arriving in the United States, the heroin was shipped to either New York or New Jersey via airports in San Diego, Phoenix or Las Vegas. Couriers were typically given a transportation fee, which was deposited into bank accounts in New York and New Jersey and then immediately withdrawn in southern California. 

DEA worked with the Colombian National Police to seize 350 kilograms of heroin, a street value of $22 million. Two hundred twenty kilograms of cocaine, one kilogram of methamphetamine, 150 pounds of marijuana, $200,000 in United States currency and $1,000,000 in counterfeit United States currency were also seized.

DEA agents said they were first tipped off to a heroin carrier from San Diego to New York last year.

"When we expanded the investigation, we uncovered the ring with its source in Colombia and the route through Mexico to the U.S.," said Special Agent Erin Mulvey.

Law enforcement agents in the U.S., Mexico and Colombia made more than 100 arrests over the course of the investigation, including the engineer who manufactured the drugs. Four people were arrested in New York City last week, three of whom were U.S. citizens.

Do you have a tip for Brian Ross & the Investigative Team?

May 23, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (19)

User Comments

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There are 100 drug dealers ready to step in and take over!!!!!!!!!

Posted by: Me | May 23, 2007 7:23:22 PM

Now it makes sense to close our borders with Mexico.

Posted by: marc | May 23, 2007 7:35:31 PM

Legalize drugs, anyone who wants to do drugs should sign a waiver for any of us being responsible for their health.

Posted by: Aaron C | May 23, 2007 8:03:44 PM

I think the plice should potrol all jurosdictions specially parts of town where drugs are prodominant and bust all drug dealers on the spot

Posted by: Phil | May 23, 2007 8:18:46 PM

What a joke!! That won't slow things down more than a week. Hats off to the people doing the hard work, but this not a winnable war. I've been a drug addict, and I can tell you legalization is the only way. With no money in the poison it becomes undesireable and it's true ugly surfaces.

Posted by: | May 23, 2007 8:32:49 PM

This is what happens when more than 20 million people are allowed to cross the border without any identification. Cesar Chavez was against Illegal Immigration and Barack Obama will end it once and for all - unlike George W. Bush who loves cheap labor and dumb, unsuspecting Christianists from Latin America.

Posted by: Barack Obama Supporter | May 23, 2007 9:05:08 PM

This is an endless war. We need to continue to take down these cartels. Sure there will be others but the US government need to continue to make it impossible for them to move these drugs into our country by blocking all their paths in any ways, means, possible.

Posted by: cobblecanyon | May 23, 2007 10:26:42 PM

The drug war is not worth it. We need to be fighting poverty. The people that fall into pushing the drugs and taking them are in poverty. If they had jobs and something meaningful to look forward to in life maybe we wouldnt even have the demand that is so heavy for the drugs in the first place. People need hope and drugs give them a false sense of it. If they had real hope then we wouldnt have 22 mill going into drugs. It would still be there but it wouldnt be as great.

Posted by: Katrina | May 23, 2007 11:19:37 PM

These drugs are used to support terrorist organizations. Start charging the dealers and suppliers with supporting a terrorist’s organization just as if they had supplied money straight to UBL, the Taliban or any other terrorist organization set out to overthrow the Western World.

Posted by: Dave | May 24, 2007 12:51:08 AM

What we need to do is start exposing these drug dealers to the world. Show us their pictures and pictures of their homes and lavish lifestyles. They won't do this because when they do you'll realize that they are members of the "Upper Crust" in our society, not poor "Joe Six Packs", the poor consumers. SHOW US THESE PEOPLE!!! THE HEADS OF THE SNAKE!!!

Posted by: rubern | May 24, 2007 8:11:58 AM

Honestly, it's like something out of a movie. But, the war on drugs is like putting a lot of hard work into nothing, this will only make the traffiking organizations smarter. I mean how long do you think they were smuggling drugs into the country through clothing? They know they are going to get caught soon or later they just find a new one to pass by until they get caught up again.

Posted by: georgia_gurl31827 | May 24, 2007 8:59:51 AM

Many said they do not want dumb immigrants to come to U.S. to provide cheap labor to build them cheap houses, help lower the food and other necessities's price down.

These same americans are also the loudest mouth and biggest complainers and whiners when they, themselves, have to pay higher price for these things when these immigrants go home. These also are punch of lazy who would not do the works that the immigrants do any way.

These fat asses and loud mouths americans complains about everything and never appreciate what people from other contries - immigrants - to feed them and their family.

In my opinion, they should shut up and enjoy what they have now.

Posted by: Don Wise | May 24, 2007 9:01:28 AM

We need to close our borders with Mexico. This is not a winnable war unless our goverment gets serious about stopping the drug dealers. Our prisons are past FULL with drug dealers. Us tax payers are payig the price of these drug dealers!!! USA needs to do something different from what they have been doing because it hasn't been working. I don't have answer but I pray someone does.

Posted by: Dawm | May 24, 2007 11:31:56 AM

If you're making natural, plants and herbs illegal and off limits to people aren't you basically saying that whatever "all mighty" that created them for people to use in the first place made a huge mistake and that human legislators can do a better job running the human race than the creator???
What happened to "in God we trust", folks?

Posted by: Zach | May 24, 2007 12:25:12 PM

Cocaine consumption in the US is estimated as at least 300 metric tons. They captured a quarter ton. Heroin consumption in the US is estimated at 10 to 15 metric tons. They captured a third of a ton. The War on Drugs isn’t working. Time to try something different?

Posted by: Mick | May 24, 2007 6:34:34 PM

Close borders with Mexico?, well im a mexican, and i don't really care if you do that, but i can tell you that won't keep all the people in the U.S. who demand that drug clean, is the people who use that the one who makes the demand.. simple as that, close your country fellow americans, we don't care, and please, don't get out of your own country (look at the far east)...
by the way, why's all that drug coming to America?, somebody need it there dont?

Posted by: Edgar | May 25, 2007 1:04:43 AM

I might add: when the white collars find that there's little or no profit to be made in the changing, laundering and investmening in drug trafficking and pretending they are not part of the problem it will go a long way towards drying up the bottomless wells of capital that the drug traffic, as well as the international arms trafficking depend upon for it's life blood.

Posted by: Zach | May 25, 2007 6:33:09 PM

All you have to do is look back at prohibition in this country to see how well that worked out, make it here, bottle or package it here, tax it here, take the profit out of it and smuggling stops. Unless we have a really corrupt govt, this should be a no brainer. Sell it in retail stores or pharmacies at waaaaaaaaay lower profits then the smugglers is all. Just make the minimum age 21, let's face it folks, if the kids want it they're going to get it (just like pot and alcohol). At least this way we could use the tax to defray some of this war spending, or maybe even feed the poor. (oops, my liberal's showing). But it makes more sense than the cons.

Posted by: larry | May 26, 2007 10:58:55 PM

Hey kids can you say capital punishment to all offenders? If it doesn't kill them all at least it will slow down.

Posted by: pissed | Jun 3, 2007 6:24:49 AM

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