Pubdate: Sun, 19 Feb 2012
Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
Copyright: 2012 The Commercial Appeal
Contact: http://web.commercialappeal.com/newgo/forms/letters.htm
Website: http://www.commercialappeal.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/95
Author: Wayne Risher

EXTENT OF DRUG TRAFFICKING VIA FEDEX AND ITS RIVALS IS UNKNOWN

It didn't surprise former U.S. Customs investigator Jamie Haase that 
a drug trafficker testified in federal court about cocaine sent from 
Mexico into the U.S. via FedEx.

Haase said the FedEx Express world hub in Memphis, which handles 
about 1.5 million packages on a typical night, just doesn't have 
enough people, drug dogs and detection gear to catch everything.

"The sheer volume of packages that goes through there makes it a 
win-win for drug traffickers," said Haase, who works in loss 
prevention in Greenville, S.C., and advocates for a group that favors 
liberalization of drug laws.

"Only a small percentage of cargo is getting flagged for inspection."

It's unclear how much narcotics traffic moves to and around the 
United States through air cargo carriers like FedEx and UPS, but it's 
presumed to be substantial.

"I think it's an unknown number, and I think it is huge. I don't 
think it's all international, either. It's domestic, too. From 
California, where (medical) marijuana is legal, they're shipping all 
over the country," he said.

In the U.S. District Court trial in Memphis, 
trafficker-turned-witness Orlando Pride, testifying against former 
associates in the Craig Petties crime organization, said they loaded 
200 kilograms of cocaine in a coffin-sized box in Mexico and shipped 
it by FedEx across the border for distribution in Memphis and the 
South. Pride said there were 45 FedEx shipments valued at more than 
$4 million each.

Pride's testimony raised questions about what air cargo carriers are 
doing to stem the flow of illegal drugs and how much of the nation's 
illegal drug trade is moved by the same networks that support 
e-commerce and bring us iPods from China.

It was the latest drug investigation with a FedEx connection. In 
2010, a Korean crime gang was accused of smuggling methamphetamines 
from Mexico to Korea by FedEx. In 2009, the son of actor Michael 
Douglas was charged with shipping meth by FedEx from California to New York.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration's National Drug Threat 
Assessment for 2010 said drug traffickers' use of air cargo was 
declining in favor of land shipments across the Southwest border.

"The amount of drugs smuggled into the United States by couriers and 
in cargo aboard commercial aircraft is significantly less than the 
amount smuggled by other means," the report said.

Commercial air conveyances in 2009, the report said, accounted for 24 
percent of heroin seizures, 15 percent of ecstasy, 6 percent of 
cocaine, and less than 1 percent each of methamphetamine and marijuana.

The next drug threat assessment report, issued last year, did not 
include details about air conveyances.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency, a unit of the 
Department of Homeland Security, has inspectors stationed at the 
Memphis FedEx hub.

Nationally, Customs seized nearly 5 million pounds of narcotics in 
fiscal 2011 and 4.14 million the year before. Customs in fiscal 2010 
processed nearly 334,000 flights with cargo and screened more than 57 
million regular and express air waybill records.

An agency spokeswoman, citing the ongoing trial, declined to discuss 
drug enforcement efforts at the Memphis airport and FedEx hub.

Spokesmen at FedEx and rival UPS, citing the sensitive subject, 
declined to discuss cargo screening aimed at rooting out contraband.

Chris Stanley at FedEx and Norman Black at UPS said both companies 
require shippers to follow all applicable laws.

Stanley said, "We've got some very highly trained personnel in our 
security team. We've got different layers of security that packages 
go through. I can't talk about the specifics of those. We do 
cooperate with authorities in investigations and searches. Because of 
what it is, I can't divulge much more than that."

He added, "We do not tolerate the use of our system to ship illegal 
things of any kind, including drugs."

A Customs news release dated last July 15 provided a glimpse into the 
inner-workings of the FedEx hub in Indianapolis, the company's No. 2 
hub in the U.S. It said Customs agents intercepted 99,253 illegal 
drug paraphernalia items there in the fiscal year that began Oct. 1, 2010.

It quoted a regional field director as saying, "Using cutting-edge 
tools and technology such as narcotics detector dogs, X-rays, data 
systems, radiation detection units and other consignment hub methods, 
CBP officers working at this facility have been able to constantly 
adapt to outsmart the smugglers and detect inbound contraband like 
illegal drug paraphernalia."

Haase said Customs officers and security personnel use sophisticated 
intelligence and technology tools to identify suspicious packages and 
set them aside for closer examination.

"The mass volume is too much to handle," he said. "They can put new 
procedures in place and catch what they can catch. It's going to be 
very minuscule, and it makes you wonder if it's going to be worth it."

One of his assignments was going undercover in Baltimore to make a 
delivery of heroin that had passed through the Memphis hub, he said.

Haase said he left the U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement 
agency, the investigative arm of Customs and Border Protection, last 
year. He has become a designated spokesman for Law Enforcement 
Against Prohibition, a group of former lawmen who advocate 
liberalized drug laws.

Brandon Fried, executive director of the Airforwarders Association 
and cargo security expert, said people who facilitate imports and 
exports have been focused primarily on keeping explosives off planes, 
but he believes heightened security awareness helps curb drug flows too.

"The visibility is high on air cargo, a lot of procedures are in 
place, and walking off the street and giving a package to an air 
freight company is just not done any more," he said.

"I personally have been to the FedEx hub in Memphis. I have seen the 
sniffer dogs. Are they going to catch everything, when they've got 
millions of packages transiting through the hub? No. But I imagine 
FedEx and UPS are doing everything they can to work with the DEA and 
other agencies."

"Obviously, we are focusing on explosives. I'm assuming they're 
focusing on the drugs as well. It's a challenge for the cargo carriers."
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart