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August
2000
OPERATION
MOUNTAIN EXPRESS
A major DEA investigation,
known as Operation Mountain Express, culminated in August 2000. As part
of this nationwide operation, federal agents arrested more than 140 individuals
in eight cities and took enforcement actions in at least 35 others. The
criminals targeted had been trafficking large volumes of pseudoephedrine,
a precursor chemical used to manufacture the illegal drug, methamphetamine.
As of August 2000,
Operation Mountain Express had resulted in the seizure of $8 million,
10 metric tons of pseudoephedrine tablets (capable of producing approximately
18,000 pounds of methamphetamine), 83 pounds of finished methamphetamine,
two pseudoephedrine extraction laboratories, one methamphetamine laboratory
and 136 pounds of chemical solvents and reagents. The investigation is
continuing and it is anticipated that additional pseudoephedrine wholesalers
may face criminal, civil, or administrative action.
Operation Mountain
Express was coordinated by DEA's Office of Diversion Control and the Special
Operations Division (SOD), which is comprised of attorneys from the Department
of Justice's Criminal Division and agents and analysts from DEA, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Customs Service, and Internal Revenue Service.
Federal agents, with assistance from numerous state and local police agencies,
carried out the arrests in Los Angeles, Denver, Fort Lauderdale, Orlando,
San Diego, Portland, Houston, and Lodi, California. The individuals arrested
face federal charges for their involvement in a loosely structured national
network that trafficked in pseudoephedrine. According to court documents,
all of the individuals arrested are alleged to have been directly involved
in the unlawful diversion of pseudoephedrine to methamphetamine production
organizations headquartered in Mexico and operating in California and
elsewhere.
During the course
of Operation Mountain Express, investigators learned that wholesalers
in Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, Texas, Arkansas, Illinois,
and New York were shipping multi-ton quantities of pseudoephedrine tablets
that ended up in California, where black market pricing produced as much
as $3,000 profit per pound. Over the past ten years, pseudoephedrine has
become widely used in the production of methamphetamine because of its
ready availability in over-the-counter cold and allergy products. Traffickers
in California, which has historically been a center of methamphetamine
manufacturing and trafficking, began purchasing supplies nationwide when
law enforcement attention and strong state precursor control laws made
it increasingly difficult for them to obtain sufficient quantities of
pseudoephedrine from local sources.
In addition to the
arrests, DEA Special Agents and Diversion Investigators served administrative
orders to revoke the registrant status of 20 other major pseudoephedrine
distributors, and executed administrative inspection warrants and notices
of inspection to examine the records of numerous additional pseudoephedrine
distributors.
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