The Drug Enforcement Administration is trying to stay one step ahead of synthetic drug makers, wholesalers and retailers as it broadens its crackdown on the growing black market product.
DEA agents fanned out across the country Wednesday and made more than 150 arrests and served about 200 warrants, DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said. The largest single operation was a statewide effort in Alabama, where authorities made 30 arrests and seized 200 pounds of drugs, 19 guns and about $500,000 in cash.
Agents also were active in 28 other states where more than $20 million in cash and assets were seized, the DEA said.
The Treasury Department also announced the first financial sanctions against people accused of dealing in synthetic drugs. The government formally sanctioned four people it identified as Daniel Maurice Louie, Kevin Kim Louie and Francine Denise Louie — all of Canada — and Tramayne Primus from Barbados.
The group did not immediately respond to a request for comment submitted on one of their company websites.
The government’s decision to identify and sanction the four, along with four foreign companies that authorities said were used to buy and sell significant quantities of the chemicals used in many popular synthetic drugs, mean U.S. citizens cannot do business with them. The Office of Foreign Assets Control designation under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act also allows the government to seize U.S. assets tied to the group and the companies.
The Kingpin Act is a tool typically reserved for some of the most serious players in the international drug trade.
The DEA has been cracking down on synthetic drugs, including Spice, Molly and so-called bath salts, since the drugs first gained widespread popularity years ago.
In late 2010, the agency responsible for enforcing federal drug laws moved to ban five chemicals used to make synthetic marijuana blends, including K2, Spice and Blaze. Since then, drug manufacturers have continued to modify their formulas and develop new chemical mixtures. And every time a new drug is identified by the government, foreign chemists are ready with a slightly modified version often with a new brand name, said Ferdinand Large, staff coordinator for DEA’s Special Operations Division.
“It’s an unbelievable amount of resources that these illicit chemists are putting into this,” he added.
There is also growing concern about where the money is going.
Investigators have tracked hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds being sent to Yemen, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, Large said.
“The money is going there. Where it stops we don’t know,” Large said. Large said it also was unclear which criminal organizations may be profiting from the drug proceeds.
U.S. authorities long have worried about criminal and terrorist groups in the Middle East using drug trafficking to finance illicit activities.
Payne said Wednesday’s crackdown was focused strictly on U.S. targets and involved 66 DEA cases, seven investigations led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement special agents and several others led by Customs and Border Protection that focused on express consignment shipments.
Wednesday’s raids took place in Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin.
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