Pubdate: Wed, 03 Apr 2002 Source: Tucson Citizen (AZ) Copyright: 2002 Tucson Citizen Contact: http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/461 Author: Susan Carroll Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) U.S. METH SEIZURES RISE 1,400 PERCENT IN ARIZONA Federal agents are seizing record amounts of methamphetamine coming across Arizona's border with Mexico, and in the past five years seizures in the state have jumped more than 1,400 percent, authorities said. The smuggling is feeding a rapidly growing addiction by users in Arizona, they said. Seizures are being made at a "runaway pace," said U.S. Customs Service spokesman Roger Maier. Some 274 pounds of the drug have been seized since October, compared with 172 pounds during all of last fiscal year. "It looks like the Arizona border area is growing as an important shipment point for meth," Maier said. "We're starting to see it creep across the entire state now." Historically, the largest meth seizures were reported on the far western part of the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border, mainly in Tijuana and Mexicali. But since 1998, Arizona's 315-mile border with Mexico has taken over a share of the meth market. The reason, authorities said, is partly surging demand. "Methamphetamine use has gone up tremendously in the Southwest," said Jim Molesa, spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration. "Other than marijuana, meth has become the drug of choice for Arizonans." Meth trafficking, once dominated by motorcycle gangs, is now under the control of Mexican drug dealers, according to the DEA. Cartels south of the border broke into the meth trade in 1995, the DEA said, and used their ability to obtain wholesale quantities of chemicals needed to make "meth" and already existing drug-trafficking networks to step up distribution and control. Increasingly, drug smugglers are importing raw materials into the United States and then making the drug in this country, Molesa said. Federal authorities said meth is attractive to Mexican drug cartels because it can be made in Mexico, cutting out the supplier needed for drugs such as cocaine. Customs estimates that an ounce of meth sells for $1,000 on the street, although the DEA number is slightly lower. Monday, customs agents in Nogales seized 42 pounds of methamphetamine in two batches with an estimated street value of $672,000. Agents arrested three women in connection with the smuggling attempt. In the first seizure, Carina Ojeda Medina, 28, of Los Angeles allegedly drove a 1996 Mercury across the border with Claudia Beltran Zamora, 21, of Culiacan, Mexico, authorities said. Agents found 20 pounds of meth wrapped in black-taped packages in a hidden compartment in the vehicle's radiator, authorities said. The women told agents another vehicle already had passed through the port of entry in Nogales. Rosa Lopez-Valenzuela of Hermosillo, Son., 31, was arrested after authorities found 20 pounds of meth in a hidden compartment in her vehicle's radiator, agents said. The women were arrested on suspicion of importation of controlled substance, possession with intent to distribute and conspiracy. Customs Service seizures in Arizona Methamphetamine, described by the Drug Enforcement Administration as the "fastest-growing drug threat in America today," is a central nervous system stimulant. Meth is coming across the U.S.-Mexico border through Arizona in record amounts, authorities say. Fiscal year Seizures Pounds 2002 (to date) 67 274 2001 85 172 2000 70 239 1999 55 70 1998 45 18 - --- MAP posted-by: Josh