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Supporting
a racing habit
Raced in many NHRA-sponsored events, this
dragster was purchased and operated by Austin, Texas-based drug trafficker
Joe Fuentes with money made from smuggling cocaine and marijuana throughout
Texas. The dragster was seized in March of 2001 after an investigation
of the trafficking group that was responsible for the distribution
of multi-ton quantities of cocaine and marijuana since 1999.
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Looking for drug trafficking
at the U.S. border
Drug traffickers use the thousands of miles
of border between the United States and Mexico and Canada to bring
many tons of illegal drugs into this country. Devices like this one
are setup at major border crossings to X-ray vehicles driving into
the country.
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DEA agent in the jungle
of Peru
From 1987 to 1995, DEA agents were dispatched
to the jungles of Peru and Bolivia to work with local authorities
to destroy cocaine-producing laboratories deep in South America. More
than 250 agents were assigned to Operation Snowcap. Special training
and equipment was required for these unique land operations.
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DEA
on the Land
Since the earliest days of trade and interstate
commerce, substances touted as mind-altering substances and medicines
have been exchanged between populations. Opium and Hashish are products
that have been traded since 3,400 B.C. between the Sumerians and
the Assyrians. The ancient goddess of opium was a prominent figure
in Greece in the 14th century B.C. With the trade of these goods
came the establishments of trading routes that often spanned continents.
The establishment of European colonies and the immigration of millions
of people into North America in the 17th and 18th centuries also
brought the creation of trading routes that are still followed in
many cases by modern drug trafficking routes.
In addition to the trafficking of drugs into and within this country,
different drugs have taken hold in different urban and rural settings
across the U.S. Methamphetamine has long been a problem in rural
middle America, while heroin and crack have devastated inner cities.
Ecstasy and other predatory drugs, relatively new phenomenon in
drug abuse, have taken root in well-off suburban communities. One
constant in the struggle against these drugs has been the need to
target their elimination as substances of abuse across the land.
Additional Information:
DEA
Domestic Field Divisions
DEA
El Paso Intelligence Center |
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