Interdiction of Drugs

"drug interdiction — A continuum of events focused on interrupting illegal drugs smuggled by air, sea, or land. Normally consists of several phases – cueing, detection, sorting, monitoring, interception, handover, disruption, endgame, and apprehension – some which may occur simultaneously.

(From the President's FY2013 Drug Control Budget) "Interdiction
"The Federal budget request for interdiction totals $3.7 billion in FY 2013, for an increase of $89.3 million (2.5%) over the FY 2012 enacted level. The Departments of Homeland Security and Defense perform activities designed to interrupt the trafficking of illicit drugs into the United States by targeting the transportation link; major efforts and changes are highlighted below.

"Customs and Border Protection ‐ Border Security at Ports of Entry (POEs)
"Department of Homeland Security: $946.7 million
"(Reflects $53.2 million increase over FY 2012 enacted level)
"The FY 2013 President’s Budget request proposes a $53.2 million increase over the FY 2012 enacted level for border security and trade facilitation at the POEs. The increase in resources will further drug interdiction efforts at POEs.

"Customs and Border Protection ‐ Air & Marine Support
"Department of Homeland Security: $644.9 million
"(Reflects $66.9 million decrease from FY 2012 enacted level)
"The decrease in the FY 2013 request is due to a one‐time FY 2012 non‐recurring enhancement for the Office of Air and Marine’s (OAM) fleet acquisition of new aircraft and marine vessels and for the P‐3 Service Life Extension Program’s structural inspections and wing and tail replacements and upgrades. The decrease also reflects a reduction in OAM mission and field support staff.

"United States Coast Guard Acquisition, Construction and Improvements
"Department of Homeland Security: $401.9 million
"(Reflects $147.4 million increase over FY 2012 enacted level)
"The FY 2013 request proposes an increase of $147.4 million, primarily due to the Coast Guard’s planned procurement of the sixth National Security Cutter. "

(Customs and Border Protection Agency, 2009) "In fiscal year 2009 alone, CBP processed more than 360 million pedestrians and passengers, 109 million conveyances, apprehended over 556,000 illegal aliens between our ports of entry, and encountered over 224,000 inadmissible aliens at our ports of entry. We also seized more than 5.2 million pounds of illegal drugs. Every day, CBP processes over 1 million travelers seeking to enter the United States by land, air, or sea."

(Cocaine Seizures) "With 694 tons of cocaine of unknown purity seized in 2010, compared with 732 tons in 2009, global cocaine seizures have remained relatively stable in recent years (see figure 24). Comparing trends in cocaine seizures and manufacture, it can be noted that seizures increased significantly, at a much faster pace than cocaine manufacture, between 2001 and 2005, when drug control efforts were intensified, particularly in the vicinity of cocaine-manufacturing countries such as Colombia, which was then by far the world’s largest producer. During that period, South America and Central America accounted for more than two thirds of the increase in global cocaine seizures. After 2005, cocaine seizures decreased at a comparable rate to manufacture and drug control successes became increasingly difficult to achieve, as traffickers adapted their strategies and developed new methods. This could have contributed to the decrease in recent annual cocaine seizure totals, which failed to reach the peak level of 2005. While the total weight of seized cocaine remained rather stable from 2006 to 2010, the amount of pure cocaine removed from the illicit market was actually smaller because the purity of the cocaine on the market decreased. For example, the average purity of the cocaine seized in the United States fell from 85 per cent in 2006, the highest annual average in the period 2001-2010, to only 73 per cent in 2010, the lowest level in that period."

(Seizure Statistics May Be Misleading) "Comparing absolute numbers of total cocaine seizures and manufacture could be misleading. To understand the relationship between the amount of annual seizures reported by States (694 tons cocaine of unknown purity in 2010) and the estimated level of manufacture (788-1,060 tons of cocaine of 100 per cent purity), it would be necessary to take into account several factors, and the associated calculations would depend on a level of detail in seizure data that is often unavailable. Making purity adjustments for bulk seizures, which contain impurities, cutting agents and moisture, to make them directly comparable with the cocaine manufacture estimates, which refer to a theoretical purity of 100 per cent, is difficult, as in most cases the purity of seized cocaine is not known and varies significantly from one consignment to another. The total amount of seized cocaine reported by States is also likely to be an overestimation. Large-scale maritime seizures, which account for a large part of the total amount of cocaine seized, often require the collaboration of several institutions in a country or even in several countries. ⁷⁶ Therefore, double counting of reported seizures of cocaine cannot be excluded."

(Cocaine Smuggling to the US) "The smuggling of cocaine into the United States was dominated by two Colombian drug cartels, the Medellin and Cali cartels, until the early 1990s. Those organizations controlled the entire supply chain. They proved to be the last of their kind, though, as they were dismantled by the mid-1990s. A large number of smaller Colombian cartelitos (small cartels) then emerged and changed the operation of the supply chain by selling cocaine to Mexican groups, as well as to customers in the emerging cocaine markets in Europe. The Mexican groups controlled the trafficking from Mexico into the United States. The shipment methods have changed, too: while originally most of the cocaine shipments went directly from Colombia to the United States by air, nowadays the shipments are mainly sent by boat or semi-submarine to the Central American/Mexican corridor and then overland into the United States."

(Heroin Smuggling into the US) "The smuggling of heroin into and within the United States was dominated by Italian organized criminal groups after the Second World War. Those groups purchased heroin and had it transported into the United States via Turkey and France. Later, major Chinese groups, known as “triads”, brought heroin via the territory of present-day Hong Kong, China, until Latin American heroin started to be trafficked into the United States in the mid-1990s, mainly by Colombian and Mexican groups. As heroin production in Colombia has declined in recent years, more of the heroin appears to be coming from Mexico."

(Global Heroin Seizures, 2010) "With a slight increase of some 7 per cent, global seizures of heroin remained rather stable in 2010 (81 tons in 2010 compared with 76 tons in 2009), though different trends were observed in different illicit markets. Heroin seizures increased in the trafficking routes that stem from the opium production areas in South-East Asia and Central and South America (Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico), confirming an increase in the supply of heroin deriving from an increase in production in those areas in recent years. However, along the established trafficking routes for heroin manufactured from Afghan opium, leading to the Russian Federation and Western and Central Europe, a consistent decrease in heroin seizures was observed in 2010. This most probably reflects falling levels of opium production in Afghanistan after 2007 and the shortage of opium observed in Afghanistan in 2010."

(Heroin Seizures in the Americas, 2010) "In North America, heroin seizures in the United States rose by almost one half, from 2.4 tons in 2009 to a record level of 3.5 tons in 2010. Heroin entering the United States from countries other than from Mexico originated in South America, notably Colombia. In 2010, heroin seizures reached 1.7 tons, a record level in Colombia, more than twice the level in 2009, while in Ecuador heroin seizures increased to 853 kg in 2010, almost five times the level in 2009 (177 kg). The increase in heroin seizures was less pronounced in Mexico (from 283 kg in 2009 to 374 kg in 2010). In Canada, although there had been an increase in heroin seizures from 2008 to 2009, seizures decreased considerably, from 213 kg in 2009 to 98 kg in 2010."

(Trends in Cocaine Trafficking) "While their decline began in 2005, cocaine seizures in the United States have followed a downward trend similar to the prevalence of cocaine itself, suggesting that falling seizures reflect a decreasing supply of cocaine reaching the United States. One reason contributing to the time lag that emerges from these similar, but unsynchronized, trends, with changes in seizure data occurring earlier than changes in prevalence data, is that seizures usually occur relatively near to the start of the trafficking cycle, whereas consumption usually takes place at its end."

(Cocaine Trafficking to Europe) "In contrast to North America, where prevalence of cocaine use and cocaine seizures have fallen in parallel, the stability of the prevalence of cocaine use in Western and Central Europe has not coincided with stable seizure levels, as the seizure levels have fallen by some 50 per cent since 2006. A report of the European Police Office (Europol) on maritime seizures of cocaine suggests that a change in trafficking modes could have contributed to this apparent mismatch.⁸² While overall seizures have decreased, the amount of cocaine seized in containers has actually increased in countries covered by the study, such as Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. Seizures of cocaine found on vessels (but not inside containers) have decreased over the same period, implying that traffickers are increasingly making use of containers on the European route by taking advantage of the large volume of container shipments between South America and Europe.⁸³ Semi-submersible boats, which are known to be used on the Pacific route, do not yet play a role in transatlantic trafficking.⁸⁴ Meanwhile, the West African route, which became more and more popular up until 2007, has since become less important."

(Cocaine Markets Expanding) "An even greater increase in cocaine seizures can be seen in East Africa and Oceania, where the 2009/2010 levels were about four times higher than in 2005/2006, and in East and South-East Asia. In Oceania (2.6 per cent and increasing in Australia and 0.6 per cent in New Zealand), annual prevalence of cocaine use is high compared with South-East Asian countries (Indonesia, Philippines and Thailand), where less than 0.1 per cent of the adult population use cocaine. However, for many Asian countries, including China and India, no recent information on cocaine use is available. Limited information from Africa suggests that cocaine trafficking via West Africa may be having a spillover effect on countries in that region, with cocaine use possibly emerging alongside heroin use as a major problem among drug users."

(Global Opiate Seizures) "The world only intercepts one fifth of the global opiate flows every year, with very mixed performances at the country level. The Islamic Republic of Iran has the highest seizures rate, at 20 per cent. Next are China (18 per cent) and Pakistan (17 per cent). In the two main source countries, Afghanistan and Myanmar, seizures represent only 2 per cent each of the world total. An equally insignificant 2 per cent is seized in South-Eastern Europe, the last segment of the Balkan route to Europe. Along the Northern route (Central Asia - Russia), the interception rate is also low (4-5 per cent)."

(Effectiveness of Interdiction Spending) "In 2005, the federal government spent $2.6 billion to disrupt and deter the transport of illicit drugs into the United States. While international efforts to step up drug seizures may affect availability, price and consequences associated with a particular drug (i.e., cocaine or heroin), CASA was unable to find evidence that such strategies have an overall impact on reducing substance abuse and addiction or its costs to government."

(US Customs and Border Protection Agency) "CBP is actually the largest law enforcement organization in the United States, comprised of 20,000 Border Patrol agents deployed between the ports of entry and over 20,000 CBP officers actually stationed at the various land, air, and sea ports of entry throughout our country. They are joined by an 1,000-agent force of air and marine interdiction agents, whose job it is to implement the air and maritime responsibilities of CBP. There are an additional 2,300 agricultural specialists and other professionals that bring the sum total of CBP staffing, as is reflected in the chart,² to over 58,000 individuals."

(Cocaine Transshipment Through Mexico, 2006) "The US authorities estimate that around 90% of the cocaine, which entered their country in 2006, transited the Mexico-Central America corridor. The amounts of cocaine trafficked into the United States declined, however, in 2006 and this trend became more pronounced in 2007 as Mexican authorities stepped up efforts to fight the drug cartels operating on their territory, which also increased the level of cocaine related violence in Mexico. US cocaine seizures along the country’s southern border declined by 20% over the first two quarters of 2007 on a year earlier and by almost 40% in the second quarter of 2007, as compared to the second quarter of 2006. The main entry point of cocaine into the United States continues to be the common border of Mexico with southern Texas (accounting for a third of all seizures along the border with Mexico in 2006), followed by the border with southern California (18%).¹⁴"

(Transshipment Through Mexico) "As Mexican traffickers wrested control of the most valuable portions of the trafficking chain from the Colombians, Mexico itself has become by far the most important conduit for cocaine entering the United States. Today, some 200 mt of cocaine transits Central America and Mexico annually, bringing some US$6 billion to the regional 'cartels'. As a result, those who control the portions of the Mexican border through which the bulk of the drug passes have gained wealth and power comparable to that commanded by the Colombian cartels in their heyday. These groups command manpower and weaponry sufficient to challenge the state when threatened, including access to military arms and explosives."

(Reliance on Interdiction Backfires) "One flaw of current U.S.-Mexico strategy is the false presumption that international trafficking of drugs, guns, and cash can be effectively addressed through interdiction, particularly along the nearly two thousand- mile U.S.-Mexico border. After a three-decade effort to beef up security, the border is more heavily fortified than at any point since the U.S.-Mexico war of 1846–48. The United States has deployed more than twenty thousand border patrol agents and built hundreds of miles of fencing equipped with high-tech surveillance equipment, all at an annual cost of tens of billions of dollars. Although this massive security buildup at the border has yielded the highest possible operational control, the damage to Mexico’s drug cartels caused by border interdiction has been inconsequential.⁴³ Meanwhile, heightened interdiction at the border has had several unintended consequences, including added hassles and delays that obstruct billions of dollars in legitimate commerce each year, the expansion and increased sophistication of cross-border smuggling operations, and greater U.S. vulnerability to attacks and even infiltration by traffickers.⁴⁴ Further efforts to beef up the border through more patrolling and fencing will have diminishing returns, and will likely cause more economic harm than gains in security for the struggling communities of the border region.⁴⁵"

One of the major problems with supply reduction efforts (source control, interdiction, and domestic enforcement) is that, "suppliers simply produce for the market what they would have produced anyway plus enough extra to cover anticipated government seizures."

(Interdiction Estimate Accuracy) "As far as trafficking is concerned, a comparison with the interception rate of opiates in 1998 (17%), makes the interception rate of 46% reported for cocaine for the same year appear extremely high. Assuming a similar volume of seizures in 1999, the rate would be even higher (50%). For the reasons mentioned above, there are thus some doubts about the accuracy of the total potential cocaine production reported during the past few years (765 mt in 1999)."

"Al Qaeda has been alleged to have used a variety of illegitimate means, particularly drug trafficking and conflict diamonds, to finance itself. While the drug trade was a source of income for the Taliban, it did not serve the same purpose for al Qaeda, and there is no reliable evidence that Bin Ladin was involved in or made his money through drug trafficking."

"Since the late 1990s, the US policy has linked its counternarcotics policy with counterterrorism policy in Afghanistan. However, there is modest proof of a direct involvement by Al Qaida in the international drug trafficking network. The 9-11 Commission found little evidence to confirm this accusation. Groups known to be involved in the illicit drug economy were rather the Sunni Hizb-i Islami group of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the Taliban. [37] However, according to the World Bank and UNODC, the Taliban derived more income and foreign exchange in the period 1996-2000 from taxing smuggled goods from Dubai to Pakistan than from the drug industry. Even now, the Taliban have several sources of income and they are not economically dependent on the narcotics trade only. [38] This reality, however, has not stopped the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime to argue that “fighting drug trafficking equals fighting terrorism”.[39]"

(Price of Heroin) In 2010, a kilogram of heroin typically sold for an average wholesale price of $2,527.60 in Pakistan. The 2010 wholesale price for a kilogram of heroin in Afghanistan ranged around $2,266. In Colombia, a kilogram of heroin typically sold for $10,772.3 wholesale in 2010. In the United States in 2010, a kilogram of heroin ranged in price between $33,000-$100,000.

(Drug Detection Dogs) "The overwhelming number of incorrect alerts [by drug and/or explosive detection dogs] identified across conditions confirms that handler beliefs affect performance. Further, the directed pattern of alerts in conditions containing a marker compared with the pattern of alerts in the condition with unmarked decoy scent suggests that human influence on handler beliefs affects alerts to a greater degree than dog influence on handler beliefs."
"In conclusion, these findings confirm that handler beliefs affect working dog outcomes, and human indication of scent location affects distribution of alerts more than dog interest in a particular location."

The following table lists US agencies which investigate, collect information, conduct surveillance, and enforce laws concerning money laundering and trafficking of illicit drugs. This list is not all inclusive.

^{† "Agencies participating in the NJTTF include Air Force Office of Special Investigations; Army Criminal Investigative Command; Army Intelligence and Security Command; ATF [Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms; CBP [Customs and Border Protection; DEA [Drug Enforcement Administration]; Defense Criminal Investigative Service; Defense HUMINT (human intelligence) Services; Defense Intelligence Agency; Defense Threat Reduction Agency; DHS [Department of Homeland Security]; DoD [Department of Defense]; DOJ [Department of Justice]; Environmental Protection Agency; FBI; Federal Air Marshal Service; Federal Bureau of Prisons; Federal Protective Service; ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement]; Internal Revenue Service; Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C.; National Railroad Police; Naval Criminal Investigative Service; New York City Police Department; Nuclear Regulatory Commission; Office of Personnel Management; Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration; TSA [Transportation Security Administration]; U.S. Capitol Police; U.S. Department of Agriculture; U.S. Department of Energy; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; U.S. Department of the Interior; U.S. Department of State; U.S. Department of Transportation; U.S. Department of the Treasury; U.S. Food and Drug Administration; U.S. Joint Forces Command (USJFCOM); U.S. Marshals Service; U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM); U.S. Postal Inspection Service; U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM); USCG [United States Coast Guard]; and USSS [United States Secret Service]."}