Illegal drug trade struggles amid COVID-19, giving law enforcement the upper hand
The illegal drug trade has taken a massive hit on Mexican cartels after closing international borders and severing supply chains in China. Cartels are struggling to get enough supplies from overseas, particularly for meth and fentanyl. Low supply means they're forced to raise their prices. The temporary closure of the U.S.-Mexico border is also making it harder to smuggle drugs into the U.S. Less border traffic means CBP officers have more time to search cars, helping get the upper hand on the war against drugs.
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Even drug criminals are having a tough time because of the coronavirus -- as closed borders and severed supply chains spark headaches for smugglers -- but it’s making life easier for the people in charge of catching them.
Acting administrator for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Uttam Dhillon, said they’ve already noticed an impact on the black market.
“We’re seeing those disruptions on the dark web. Websites that sell illegal drugs, those websites are either shutting down or they’re delaying deliveries,” Dhillon told Fox News. “We continue to work with our international, federal, state, local and tribal partners to achieve our mission of ensuring that drugs do not reach the American people and poison our communities.”
Mexican cartels are struggling to sell meth and fentanyl after the coronavirus has closed borders and cut off supply chains in China. (Fox News)
Mexican cartels have been struggling to deliver drugs like methamphetamine, fentanyl, and other synthetic opioids because the precursors used to cook them came from China.
“Since coronavirus hit, and of course, Wuhan is the epicenter, they have had a total lockdown in the city and it’s been a lot harder to get these chemicals out of Wuhan. And, as a result, the Mexican cartels haven’t been able to get the supply that they would like to have,” Ben Westhoff, the author of the book “Fentanyl, Inc,” told Fox News.
In the border state of New Mexico, drug enforcement agents with the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program said the shortage has forced cartels to raise their drug prices. They said their biggest threat was methamphetamine but they’ve seen a big rise in fentanyl and other synthetic opioids.
“You may have a supply chain issue and less methamphetamine, we know that that’s going on in some cases but you also may have a concerted effort to manipulate the price of methamphetamine at the retail level,” Will Glaspy, the director of the New Mexico HIDTA program, said, speaking to Fox News. “The supply chain has been disrupted, so less supplies for the chemicals, less manufacturing of methamphetamine in Mexico, less methamphetamine available on the streets of the United States.”
The coronavirus pandemic led U.S. officials to close the Mexico border to nonessential travel, adding another hurdle for the cartels but possibly helping law enforcement.
The coronavirus pandemic led U.S. officials to close the Mexico border to nonessential travel, making it harder for cartels to blend in with normal traffic. (Stephanie Bennett/Fox News)
“It is more challenging for the drug traffickers because it’s harder for them to just kind of blend in with the traffic,” Guadalupe Ramirez Jr., the director of field operations at the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Tucson Field Office in Arizona, told Fox News.
CBP officers within the Tucson Field Office’s areas of responsibility have made more arrests at the start of 2020 than in the same time period in 2019. In January 2020, they made 187 narcotic arrests compared to 178 in January 2019. In February 2020, they made 170 arrests compared to 153 in February 2019.
However, after closing the border to nonessential travel, arrests began to fall in March going from 193 arrests in 2019 to 157 in 2020.
“The reduction of traffic gives us that opportunity to really utilize our tools and our officers and focus on the shipments and people coming in,” Ramirez said.
Pima County in Arizona shares a 125-mile border with Mexico. Deputies there seize up to 50 pounds of meth a week. (Stephanie Bennett/Fox News)
Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier said he’s dealt with drug traffickers almost weekly. This Arizona county shares a 125-mile border with Mexico.
“Routinely, my deputies are [seizing] 15, 20, 50 pounds of methamphetamine [weekly], that’s just enormous. And, we know we’re simply a pathway for these drugs going to other parts of the country, they are just traversing through my community and they are going all over the nation,” Napier said. “Literally, the drugs that we don’t stop here result in overdoses all across the country.”
Border closures and the lack of drug supplies have caused a huge holdup on the cartel business, but it could be helping law enforcement get the upper hand.
“We’re seeing price increases of methamphetamine and, of course, a price increase usually means there’s a decrease in supply, so this may mean that we are actually seeing, as a result of the pandemic, a decrease in the result of the amount of illicit drugs coming into our country,” Dhillon said.
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Like other businesses, this slowdown is expected to be only temporary. Analysts have said as long as there’s demand in the U.S. for these drugs, the cartels will find ways to bring them in.
“They’re extremely adaptable and so this is going to be just a disruption, but they are used to dealing in an environment where there’s a lot of disruptions, so I wouldn’t expect that it would totally knock them out,” said Ben West, a global security analyst for Stratfor.
