[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 76 (Tuesday, June 5, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5825-S5826]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    DRUG ENFORCEMENT ADMINISTRATION

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, as chairman of the Senate Caucus on 
International Narcotics Control, I rise today to compliment the men and 
women of the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA. As chairman, I have 
watched these American heroes work day and night on the front lines of 
the struggle against international drug trafficking.
  DEA's mission is to identify, target, and dismantle the most powerful 
drug syndicates operating around the world that smuggle their poison 
into American communities. These syndicates are far more powerful and 
violent than any organized criminal groups that American law 
enforcement has yet encountered. Unlike traditional organized crime, 
these 21st century crooks operate globally with transnational networks 
to conduct illicit enterprises simultaneously in many different 
countries.
  The drug traffickers whom DEA faces pose nothing less than a foreign 
threat to the national security of the United States. International 
trafficking groups today have at their disposal the most sophisticated 
communications technology and their arsenal includes radar-equipped 
aircraft, advanced weaponry, and an army of workers who oversee the 
drug business from the source zones to the urban areas and rural 
locations within the United States. These drug traffickers reach even 
into my home State of Iowa, in America's heartland. Local, rural police 
and sheriffs departments must now deal with international organized 
crime.
  All of this modern technology and these vast resources enable the 
leaders of international criminal groups to build organizations that, 
together with their surrogates operating within the United States, 
reach into all parts of America. The leaders of these crime groups use 
their organizations to carry out the work of transporting drugs into 
the United States, and franchise others to distribute drugs, thereby 
allowing them to remain beyond the reach of American justice. Those 
involved in international drug trafficking often generate such 
tremendous profits that they are able to corrupt law enforcement, 
military and political officials overseas in order to create and retain 
a safe haven for themselves. DEA's focus on international trafficking 
organizations makes that agency a critical and effective weapon in 
countering this threat to our way of life, here and abroad.
  The threat posed by Colombian drug traffickers is particularly dire. 
The international drug syndicates headquartered in Colombia, and 
operating through Mexico and the Caribbean, control both the sources 
and the flow of many dangerous drugs into the United States. The vast 
majority of the cocaine entering the United States continues to come 
from the source countries of Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru. For the past 
two decades--up to recent years--criminal syndicates from Colombia 
ruled the drug trade with an iron fist, increasing their profit margin 
by controlling the entire continuum of the cocaine market. Their 
control ranged from the wholesale cocaine base production in Peru, 
Bolivia, and Colombia, to the cocaine hydrochloride, HCL, production 
and processing centers in Colombia, to the wholesale distribution of 
cocaine on the streets of the United States.
  In response to this threat, the DEA carries out cutting-edge, 
sophisticated investigations like Millennium and White Horse which have 
led to the dismantling of major portions of the most significant drug 
trafficking organizations operating not just out of Colombia, but 
throughout the world. DEA's accomplishments could take hours to review 
in detail, but let me mention just a few here today.
  In 1999, Operation Millennium successfully targeted major traffickers 
who had previously operated without fear of capture or prosecution in 
the United States, believing that only their low-level operatives were 
at risk. This enforcement operation effectively demonstrated that even 
the highest level traffickers based in foreign countries could not 
manage drug operations inside the United States with impunity. 
Operation Millennium was made possible by direct support from the 
governments of Colombia and Mexico, and underscore the importance of 
cooperation among international drug law enforcement agencies.
  In November 2000, DEA, FBI, and U.S. Customs culminated an 18 month 
investigation targeting a multi-ethnic, transnational MDMA, Ecstasy, 
and cocaine distribution organization, following up on enforcement 
action by Dutch police in the Netherlands. The investigation, known as 
Operation Red Tide, was a textbook example of the new multi-agency, 
multi-national law enforcement cooperation needed to thwart organized 
crime in the 21st Century. As a result of this cooperative effort, 
1,096 pounds, 2.1 million tablets, of MDMA, the largest single seizure 
of the drug in history, were seized by U.S. Customs agents. The head of 
the organization, Tamer Adel Ibrahim, fled the U.S. after the seizure, 
but was quickly traced to Mexico and then to Europe by the multi-agency 
team. Ibrahim, along with others, were arrested and 1.2 million tablets 
of MDMA were seized by the Dutch National Police.
  Cases similar to Operation Red Tide exemplify the unprecedented level 
of international law enforcement cooperation in effect today. The 
investigation targeting the transnational MDMA and cocaine trafficking 
syndicate was a cooperative effort by the U.S. law enforcement 
agencies, as well as the Dutch National Police/Regional Team South, 
Mexico's Fiscalia Especializad Para La Atencion De Delitos, FEADS, the 
Israeli National Police, the German Federal Police, Bundes Kriminal 
Amt, the Cologne, Germany Police Department, the Duissburg Germany 
Police Department, the Italian National Police and the French National 
Police.

  This investigation is extremely important because MDMA, Ecstasy, is a 
new threat with a potential to cause great damage, especially to 
America's youth. Operation Red Tide has ensured that a large volume of 
ecstasy that would have made it into the hands of our youth never hit 
the streets. It has sent a strong message to the traffickers that the 
United States and DEA is leading a global response to the drug threat.
  Last December, the DEA, again together with U.S. Customs and the FBI, 
completed Operation Impunity II, resulting in 82 arrests and the 
seizure of 5,266 kilograms of cocaine, 9,708 pounds of marijuana, and 
approximately $10,890,295 in U.S. currency. Impunity II follows earlier 
successes dating back to 1996 in Operation Limelight and Operation 
Impunity I--and was the result of the outstanding coordination between 
Federal, State, and local law enforcement officials and prosecutors 
across the country.
  Operation Impunity II was a multi-agency law enforcement program that 
targeted a wide ranging conspiracy to smuggle thousands of pounds of 
cocaine and marijuana from Mexico, across the southwest border into 
Texas, for distribution throughout the United States. The organization 
placed managers in the United States and retained the organizational 
command and control elements in Mexico. In addition to remnants from 
the Carrillo-Fuentes organization, U.S. agents learned that some 
members of the Mexican Gulf Cartel had also become associated with the 
organization, including Osiel Cardenas-Guillen, allegedly a former Gulf 
Cartel lieutenant.

[[Page S5826]]

  You may remember that Cardenas-Guillen is also charged with assault 
on an FBI agent and a DEA agent in Matamoros, Mexico, on November 9, 
1999. Clearly this operation sends a clear signal that if traffickers 
threaten or harm a federal agent, they will not get away with impunity.
  In January of this year, Operation White Horse targeted a large scale 
heroin trafficking organization, directed by Wilson Salazar-Maldonado, 
which was responsible for sending multi-kilogram quantities of heroin 
from Colombia to the Northeastern United States via Aruba. The 
investigation was conducted jointly by the Colombian National Police, 
DEA Bogota, Curacao, Philadelphia and New York, and the Special 
Operations Division. This investigation resulted in 96 arrests, as well 
as the seizure of multi-kilograms quantities of heroin and cocaine, 
weapons and U.S. currency.
  DEA remains committed to its primary goal of targeting and arresting 
the most significant drug traffickers in the world today. Their 
successes include not only the operations I just mentioned, but also 
the historic destruction of the Cali and Medellin Cartels. DEA meets 
the ultimate test of bringing to justice the drug lords who control 
their vast empires of crime, which bring misery to so many nations. As 
we sustain a relentless assault against drug traffickers, we must 
insist that these drug lords be arrested, tried and convicted, and 
sentenced in their own countries to prison terms commensurate with 
their crimes, or, as appropriate, extradited to the United States to 
face justice in U.S. courts. I hope other Senators will join with me in 
acknowledging the fine work by DEA, and in supporting their efforts in 
the future.

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