News
Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 19, 2005
Contact: DEA Public Affairs
202-307-7977
DEA
Fractures Major Meth Pipeline Into U.S.
Groups Moved Enough Methamphetamine to Provide 22,700 Drug Users Every Month
with Product
AUG 19--(Washington,
D.C.)-On August 18th and 19th, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
agents, along with other foreign, federal, state and local law enforcement
conducted Operation Three Hour Tour- an extensive ten-month,
DEA-led investigation which is part of the DEA’s sustained effort
to target major drug trafficking organizations. The DEA led arrests
dismantled three major drug transportation rings with international
ties and 27 U.S. distribution groups that are responsible for moving
enough meth into the U.S. that could have provided product for over
22,700 meth users every month.
The three Mexican
and Colombian drug transportation organizations (DTO’s) and their
U.S. distribution counterparts dismantled under Operation Three
Hour Tour are known to have smuggled and distributed approximately
4,000 pounds of cocaine, 20-30 pounds of heroin and in excess of 50
pounds of methamphetamine on a monthly basis-throughout the United
States. These drug amounts could have provided nearly 1.81 million
cocaine users, 22,700 methamphetamine users and close to 13,620 heroin
users with their drug of choice every month. These organizations are
known to have been operating within the U.S. for several years.
More than 65 search
warrants were conducted resulting in the arrests of 164 individuals
in the Dominion Republic, Colombia, Los Angeles, California, New York,
New Haven, Connecticut, and Des Moines, Iowa, as a result of Operation
Three Hour Tour.
“The streets
from Bogotá to Los Angeles are no longer a free trade zone for
the criminals arrested today. Rest assured the DEA will be relentless
in targeting drug traffickers and their illicit money until they no
longer have the assets or means to put their poisons into the hands
our children,”DEA Administrator Karen P. Tandy today said of
the arrests.
Operation Three
Hour Tour highlights the dangerous and violent nature of the
drug trade and the DTO’s associated with moving drugs over
the border. Among the drugs, cash and luxury items seized during
the investigation were multiple high-powered weapons, including a
50-caliber assault rifle with armor piercing ammunition.
Operation Three
Hour Tour resulted in 164 arrests, the seizure of 3,163 pounds
of cocaine, 55 pounds of methamphetamine, 15 pounds of heroin, 9
1/2 ounces of crack cocaine, 10,000 doses of ecstasy, $5.5 million
in cash, 216 lbs. of marijuana, 58 vehicles, and 52 firearms. |