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Thursday, September 19, 2019

Covert Trip to Massive Mexican Meth Lab in Sinaloa Shocks US Lawmen

Yaqui for Borderland Beat From: AOL
A dozen of Alabama’s highest-ranking law enforcement officials last week traveled deep into the bowels of the Mexican jungle – the belly of the beast as they describe it – to get a firsthand look at what they face in the war on drugs.

What they came away with was shock and awe at the volume of illegal narcotics – especially methamphetamine - being produced there, and a re-energized will to do all they can on the home front to knock back not only the demand, but the supply coming into the state’s cities and counties by the tons.

A dozen of Alabama’s highest-ranking law enforcement officials last week traveled deep into the bowels of the Mexican jungle – the belly of the beast as they describe it – to get a firsthand look at what they face in the war on drugs.

What they came away with was shock and awe at the volume of illegal narcotics – especially methamphetamine - being produced there, and a re-energized will to do all they can on the home front to knock back not only the demand, but the supply coming into the state’s cities and counties by the tons.


“We have all seen and witnessed a lot of things over the year. You get tired of seeing dead bodies, and the effects of overdoses,’’ said Clay Morris, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration in Birmingham. “I’ve seen and done a lot of big things around the world and to see that…it leaves you with an impression and it renews your fight. It’s staggering.”

On Sept. 11, the delegation of 12 traveled to Mexico City. Those who made the trip were: Morris, Northern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Jay Town, Middle District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Louis Franklin, Southern District of Alabama U.S. Attorney Richard Moore, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, DEA Supervisor Sean Stephen, ALEA Secretary Hal Taylor, Madison County Sheriff Kevin Turner, Alabama District Attorney’s Association Barry Matson, Hoover Police Chief Nick Derzis, Madison County District Attorney Robert Broussard and Bryan Taylor, general counsel for the governor’s office.

“We talk about opioid crisis today and it is a crisis. It’s an epidemic, but we can’t forget methamphetamine,’’ Morris said. “Opioids is our acute problem. Methamphetamines are a systemic problem, the No. 1 problem in the state of Alabama.”

Under tight security provided by heavily-armed U.S. and Mexican law enforcement, the delegation traveled 5,500 miles in just under 72 hours to “see, hear and smell” the sophistication of the illegal narcotics trade there. 

The overall message, they said, was clear: drug trafficking and production in Mexico is dominating the drug trade in the U.S. Heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl and evening cocaine originating in Colombia, all are being moved into the U.S. from Mexico.

Mexico's Sinaloa drug cartel leaving deadly mark on Alabama:

"The Sinaloa cartel has been around forever. It is probably the most pervasive and extensive-reaching cartel in the U.S.,'' said Bret Hamilton, assistant special agent in charge for Alabama's Drug Enforcement Administration.
The first day was spent in briefings by U.S. and Mexican officials, helping the delegation to better understand the nature, the scope, the breadth of the drugs crossing the border into the U.S. On Day 2, they flew to the Mexican state of Sinaloa, outside the state’s capital of Culiacan and then loaded into a U.S. Marine Corps Black Hawk helicopter to fly about 30 minutes to see a clandestine meth lab that had been seized by DEA 15 days before their arrival. 

Sinaloa is a stronghold for the Sinaloa cartel. About 90% of the drugs that come into the U.S. and Alabama are supplied by and from the Sinaloa cartel, which has long had a presence in Alabama.

“It was dangerous. We had to use encrypted applications on our phones to even communicate because we knew the cartels knew we were in town. Folks knew we were in town and they knew why we were there and they didn’t like it,’’ Town said. “What we saw was exactly what we thought we were going to see, and more.”

What they saw was a lab that up until its seizure had produced three tons a week of crystal meth – 90 to 100 % pure. That’s 12 tons or 24,000 pounds a month that was capable of pulling in $1.44 billion a year. And they had passed six others just like it that had already been dismantled.

“I never thought I would be standing in a lab that produced three tons a month,’’ Marshall said. “It was like a movie set.”

The lab they visited had been seized 15 days before the Alabama delegation arrived. More than 70 law enforcement officers had spent two weeks protecting the site until the Alabama lawmen could get there and see it firsthand. “Just so we could understand the scope and the problem,’’ Morris said. “We found we do have friends in Mexico in law enforcement, quite literally friends who put their lives on the line for us and for our citizens here in Alabama.”

One of the men protecting the site had been shot eight times with a rifle during the shutdown of the lab. His vest shielded most of the rounds, but he had been hit in the leg and the hand. He still was wearing a brace on his leg from the injuries sustained in that shooting. “The sacrifices these men make to protect our country and our state are unheard of, and they are unparalleled,’’ Morris said.
“We have a problem with addiction in America and there’s many drug cartels that want to feed and fuel that problem and they care about nothing except the U.S. dollar coming back,’’ he said. “We see the destruction in our cities and our counties and our state. This trip was eye opening.”

The biggest fear in Mexico, the lawmen said, is not methamphetamine but fentanyl and fentanyl labs are now growing. China is a large supplier of the precursor chemicals for both meth and fentanyl, and the Mexican chemists are adept at changing the structures and formulas and the synthesis used.

Town said the trip signifies the lengths to which law enforcement in this state are willing to go to understand not just the illegal narcotics issues here in Alabama, but the trafficking efforts undergone in other countries. 

“The cartels are run more like a conglomerate, a Fortune 100 company, than they are just some dealers out of the garage,’’ he said. “They understand market share and how to increase demand by limiting the supply and how to diversify their portfolios.”

Derzis said so far this year in Hoover, they’ve lost seven people to drug overdoses, and saved 20 others. They have averaged about 12 deaths a year in recent years.

“What this trip did for me was to see the poison being produced in this country that’s coming here and killing people in the community that I serve,’’ he said. “I take that personal.”

Matson said that in his 30-year career, he’s never seen anything like it. “I’ve been on meth lab busts that encompassed an entire house or a large area but nothing on the acreage and the tonnage and the vastness of what we experienced down there,’’ he said. 

“If I told you there was a multi-national organization , China, Mexico and other countries that were sending poison into this country and slowly poisoning members of your family and people all across Alabama were dying a slow terrible death and they were also killing people immediately with that same poison, you would assume it was a terrorist organization and we needed to mobilize immediately. 

That’s exactly what’s happening in this country and happening right now. They don’t care, they’re making tons of money and they’re killing people.”

Sheriff Turner, who worked in narcotics for 20 years, said his county sees a drug overdose about every four days. Traveling below the border and seeing what they saw, he said, re-energized him. He said he came back and told his deputies “Let’s get to work. We can chop the heads off the guys who are selling the dope in our streets,’’ he said.

Earlier this month, Madison County deputies completed a six-month investigation into “ice” trafficking in north Alabama and seized roughly 24 pounds of the crystal meth. Those drugs, authorities said, came directly from Sinaloa.

Working with their federal law enforcement partners, Turner said, is important now more than ever before. “I’ll tell ya, I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve seen a lot. I have taken down a lot of cocaine. I have seen a lot of methamphetamine, but when I went in that jungle and saw that, and on top of that to see the intimidation level they have in a city of a million people, it was incredible,’’ Turner said. “You understand when you stop someone, and they don’t want to talk. You understand why they don’t want to flip and tell on someone.”

“It takes a lot to shock us and it certainly did,’’ Town said. “There are an estimated 35,000 murders in Mexico a year. Mexico is roughly half the size of the U.S. but that is twice the number of murders we’ll have in this country this year. Drugs fuel violence.”

32 comments:

  1. The black market caused by prohibition fuels the violence not the drugs.
    Yet they only focus on the "exoteric"aspect. The drug and violence. Not the esoteric angle which is how and who launders their money? I'm sure HSBC still does but of course, they are too big to fail.

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  2. It's funny when the lesson they take from seeing one tiny fraction of all of the production capacity in Mexico is that what they're doing is working, their actions are making a difference and that prosecuting mostly nonviolent drug users is effective at reducing demand. Lol. Take one look at how simple this operation is. Organized criminal groups are able to produce drugs in multi-ton quantities in plastic buckets outside in the brush and elements using minimally trained peasants that don't even have a highschool education and may not even be able to read. How, exactly, does anyone see this and the piddly-shit drug busts the state police in AL are making and then calls it winning the war on drugs?

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  3. Fuck this press opportunity by Alabama law enforcement. They learned nothing that can be applied in Alabama. What they got is some plaque they will hang on their walls. Alabama law enforcement is one of the dirtiest group of cops you can find in the US, and that’s saying something.

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  4. There's literally 1000s of smaller labs throughout the U.S.

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  5. We’re there any Mexican politicians included in the visit? I bet they’re laughing their asses off at the dog and pony show they put up for american law enforcement. And the police in Mexico have not realized they are scapegoats miss led by greedy politicians.

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  6. Twice the murders in a country half a size. It's not Chicago or anywhere else in USA. Mexico has heroes but can't overcome the corruption that is deeply rooted. Besides the cartels they fight an kill, they kill innocent people with addiction problems. A billion dollars is not enough for the drug kingpins living a hermit existence. What are they trying to prove? Capitalism at it's worst. About the the Alabama conglomerate, they will face stiff resistance and unparalleled cooperation.

    Roll Tide!!

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    1. They say poverty is what causes many a crime in any major U.S. city. Now Mexicans are twice as poor as in this country. What do you expect?

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  7. Really a wasit of time. Mexican government isnot going enforce the law.

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  8. 35,000 year ago. It will be higher in. The coming year

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  9. Smh at these ignorant cops comments. They think it’s bad in the US? How tf they think it is for Mexico? After seeing how hopeless the fight curbing supply is, their first instinct is to continue the fight 🤦🏼‍♂️ Jesus American government mentality is just fucking retarded

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  10. Sinaloa is the capital of drug trafficking theres where you get your top degree in drug trafficking it's a prestige college over

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  11. The only way they went in is with permission of caro And mayo the government had a meeting before they took the USA delagate of 12 where one high Ranking USA official was present in that meeting caro lock eyes with the USA official but nothing out of the ordinary just a couple of words traded and hand shake close the deal what was odd is only one body guard was protecting the two most wanted man perhaps snipers where on the mountains the government was 30 deep and 12 USA marines in the meeting if you ask me caro And Mayo played with their freedom
    Culiacán Story Time

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  12. I doubt that they understand the root of their drug problem, so it’s just keep on bro with war on drugs.
    And no these guys are not terrorists just drug dealers.

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  13. Caucasians love meth these Alabama gringos just trying to get their cut when shit hits the street in their home towns. Snitchaloas fucking up by allowing them over there in Sinaloa.

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  14. We blame drugs for ppl dying but never guns?? Drugs kill ppl sure but by choice... Guns kill ppl that may not have done anything wrong. Never understood that logic... why blame a thing that doesn't by itself harm

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  15. Thank you Yaqui for this post. I live in Houston. Everyone here knows drugs are plentiful here. Ironically, the only time you hear about our drug problems is when the Police raid a house and kill 2 people that weren't drug dealers,because of a crooked narco cop. Or when there are 41 people who get arrested for drug distribution. If I did not directly deal with addicts daily,I'd probably not know how bad drug abuse is in Houston. There have been times I only heard about arrests from Borderlandbeat! Stunning. So,please keep up the great work everyone does there. Many thanks and blessing. Peace.

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  16. So it took a decade to grasp the magnitude of the drug production in the US? The government is no different from those pharmaceutical companies who turn a blind eye to what's turned out to be a costly epidemic.
    Enforcement along our borders will be a challenging task to curb. America's appetite for drugs like those other countries has fueled profits for criminal organizations.
    Drugs are not going anywhere other than to those consumers.

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  17. I doubt 90 percent of drugs are from CDS. So what about CJNG, BLO, CDN, CDG ETC ?

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  18. wont Be long until you see US boots in Mexican soil. By 2021, there will be a new cartel...Viva Mexico carbones

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  19. Pretty ballsy of a politician to say and do something like this. Hopefully they can use it to raise awareness about the issues in Mexico to the American public.

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    1. For an Alabama official with an15 strapped up? He's been shooting since he was in the womb. Ain't ballsy at all. Just American

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  20. This is straight outta Breaking Bad. Remember the superlab in Mexico that Gus and Jesse went to?

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  21. Canada be loving that sinaloa methamphetamine

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  22. Why the fk did they allow them kkk Alabama fks into Sinaloa? They should've cut their heads off. El lp

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    1. You should shut up! The world would be a much better place if horrible people like you were dead and gone!

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    2. You can not cut the head off a man from Alabama because he will kick your ass...
      Roll Tide mf

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  23. It is time for the US AIRFORCE start carpet bombing the homes,villages,jungles,towns ruled by Mexico's drug cartels and workers of the cartel.

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    1. Its time we cut short the demand in the states and execute every user in the country. No demand no supply!

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    2. That carpet shit bombing was back in vietnam bro, your old.

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    3. If there is a scumbag with a supply he will push his sleazy immoral whore onto another just to bring them down. Don’t you know scumbags want everyone else to be a scumbag too????

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  24. I love how our state roads, education... you name it, are in need. Yet we can send 12 politicians/ law enforcement. There is still plenty of meth made by Billy Bob down the road. Let's start there. I think the citizens should be able to vote how our money is spent. Doubt it was a cheap trip.

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