Justice Department Reports 60 Percent Increase in Number of Drug-Smuggling Tunnels

The number of tunnels being used to smuggle illegal drugs across the Southwestern border grew by more than half from 2008 to 2009, according to a March 25 report from the National Drug Intelligence Center.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2009, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) agents stationed along U.S.-Mexico border discovered 26 illegal tunnels – a 60 percent increase over the 16 tunnels that authorities discovered in 2008.

Most of the subterranean routes were discovered in Arizona, with 20 found in the “Tucson Sector” – a 262-mile long section of the border from the New Mexico state line to Yuma County, Ariz., the NDIC reported in its 2010 annual drug assessment.

“The proliferation of the underground tunnels is an indication that smugglers see them as an effective venue to bring in contraband into the U.S.,” the report said.

According to the Justice Department, most of the illegal tunnels are being used by drug smugglers to bring in illegal substances.

“DTOs (drug trafficking organizations) consider these tunnels as useful investments to smuggle drugs into the United States,” the NDIC assessment said.

But the report also noted the potential for the tunnels to be used for terrorist activity.

“Of some concern to law enforcement officials is the potential for using drug smuggling routes to move terrorists or transport weapons of mass destruction into the United States,” it revealed.

The Justice Department, however, concluded that it is “very unlikely” that Mexican smugglers would bring in terrorists and weapons of mass destruction into the U.S.

“(T)here have been no incidents of this type documented, and according to federal law enforcement officials, the involvement of Mexican DTOs in this type of activity is ‘very unlikely,’ ” the report noted.

The NDIC assessment highlighted steps that the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency has taken to combat the proliferation of underground tunnels along the southwest border, which include interfering with groups or individuals attempting to build tunnels in the sewer system beneath Nogales, Ariz.

“In February 2009, CBP initiated a program designed to impede the construction of tunnels in Nogales's extensive drainage system. The initiative involved the construction of a 12-foot-deep steel and concrete underground wall that extends 100 yards along the border near the DeConcini POE (port of entry) in Nogales,” the NDIC.

Tunnel passageways found under the California and Arizona border with Mexico undermine the “virtual fence,” which are cameras and sensors being placed along the southwest border in an effort to deter illegal immigration and drug smuggling.

In June 2009, U.S. Border Patrol agents uncovered a massive elaborate tunnel through the southwest border, measuring 48 feet in the U.S. and 35 feet in the Mexico.

The tunnel had wooden framed walls and ceiling construction, as well as electrical wire, ventilation, and lighting.

There were five underground tunnels found in California in FY 2009, four of which were discovered in San Diego.

Besides underground tunnels and other on land operations, Mexican drug traffickers also rely on moving contraband by using “low-flying small or ultra light” aircrafts.

According to the NDIC assessment, drug abuse, including the toll on the environment from the production of drugs, comes at a $215 billion annual cost for the U.S.

“Most illicit drugs available in the United States and thousands of illegal immigrants are smuggled into the United States across the nearly 2,000-mile Southwest Border,” the report noted.

Give 'em amnesty McAmnesty! Oh wait, I forgot, McCain is now against amnesty........ at least until after the election.

February 09, 2008 McCain pushes bill to improve health care......in Mexico!

What would Americans think of a member of Congress who introduced legislation, not to improve health care in the United States, but to improve health care in Mexico? Insane? Drunk? Unworthy of public office?What would Americans think, then, of a bill introduced in Congress that required federal agencies to come up with a plan, not to expand health coverage in the United States, but to expand health coverage in Mexico? Impossible? Unthinkable? Wildly irresponsible? What would Americans think of the motives of a senator, who not only introduced a bill to improve Mexico’s health care system andextend coverage to a growing population of 120 million people, but gave health insurance companies the right to help devise the plan? Blatantly corrupt? Grossly indifferent to the well-being of the American people? Downright treasonous?

Unbelievable as it may seem, the Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act of 2005 contained a provision giving insurance companies the right to help devise a plan for extending US health care to Mexico (Sec. 1004. BINATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH INFRASTRUCTURE AND HEALTH INSURANCE).

Even more unbelievable, the senator who sponsored the bill was not on the verge of being thrown out of office for this odious piece of legislation. No, the senator who introduced the bill, Senator John McCain of Arizona, was locking up the Republican nomination to be our next president

SOURCE http://towncriernews.blogspot.com/search?q=McCain+temperhttp://opensourceactivist.org/content/legislation/S1033/text.php#sec1004

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Mexican Drug Violence Spills Over Into U.S.
Fox News | Feb. 9, 2009
FR Posted on 02/10/2009 8:31:13 AM PST by AuntB

Just as government officials had feared, the drug violence raging in Mexico is spilling over into the United States.

Investigators fear the violence could erupt elsewhere around the country because the Mexican cartels are believed to have set up drug-dealing operations all over the U.S., in such far-flung places as Anchorage, Alaska; Boston; and Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

"They are capable of doing about anything," said Rusty Payne, a Drug Enforcement Administration spokesman in Washington. "When you are willing to chop heads off, put them in an ice chest and drop them off at a police precinct, or roll a head into a disco, put beheadings on YouTube as a warning," very little is off limits.

In an apartment in Columbiana, Alabama, police found five men with their throats slit in August. They had apparently been tortured with electric shocks before being killed in a murder-for-hire orchestrated by a Mexican drug organization over a drug debt of about $400,000.

In Phoenix, 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of the Mexican border, police have reported a sharp increase in kidnappings and home invasions, with about 350 each year for the last two years....

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