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U.S. NEWS Friday 21 February 2020
New enforcement operation focuses on meth trafficking hubs

By KATE BRUMBACK (379 liters) of a product
ATLANTA (AP) — Federal that could be cooked into
authorities are targeting about 5 to 7 pounds (2 to
methamphetamine "trans- 3 kilograms) of crystal meth
portation hubs" around the per gallon, Murphy said.
country in an effort to block The drugs on display repre-
the distribution of the highly sented about 2.3 million in-
addictive drug, officials an- dividual doses, he said.
nounced Thursday. "This is a staggering amount
U.S. Drug Enforcement Ad- of methamphetamine, and
ministration Acting Admin- it illustrates the problem
istrator Uttam Dhillon visited that we have," he said.
Atlanta to announce the Murphy said the produc-
launch of Operation Crys- tion of the drug in Mexico
tal Shield. Atlanta is one results in a scary combina-
of eight cities the agency tion: a drug with higher pu-
has identified as a hub rity and a lower cost.
where methamphetamine The surge in resources asso-
from Mexico arrives in bulk ciated with Operation Crys-
for distribution around the tal Shield is expected to last
country. at least through the end of
The other cities are Dallas, the year, and authorities
El Paso, Houston, Los An- said they will be watching
geles, New Orleans, Phoe- to see how the cartels pivot
nix and St. Louis. By focus- U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon announced the launch in response.
ing on those hubs, Dhillon of Operation Crystal Shield at a news conference in Atlanta on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020. Three of the cities in the ini-
said, they hope to attack Associated Press tiative are in Texas, partly
the entire supply chain and because drugs shipped
intercept the drug before where it's produced on an pounds (22,680 kilograms) County found a meth lab. over its border can be dif-
it is trafficked to neighbor- industrial scale and smug- of methamphetamine at Inside, authorities found ficult to intercept in the
hoods and communities gled across the border, he U.S.-Mexico border cross- boxes of candles that con- state's vast size.
throughout the country. said. ings. That's more than was tained methamphetamine Special Agent Eduardo
While much of the focus in DEA seizures of metham- seized for the entire 2017 and could be cooked Chávez, who leads the
recent years has been on phetamine in the U.S. in- fiscal year. December was down and processed into DEA's Dallas office, said the
synthetic opioids like fen- creased by 127%, from an especially busy month crystal meth, said DEA Spe- additional funding will help
tanyl, methamphetamine 49,507 pounds (22,456 kilo- for methamphetamine cial Agent in Charge Rob- cover investigative expens-
continues to be a leading grams) to 112,146 pounds trafficking, with more than ert Murphy, who runs the es, including travel costs,
cause of death and addic- (50,869 kilograms), be- 16,000 pounds (7,257 kilo- agency's Atlanta field of- and the focus on transit
tion, Dhillon said. tween fiscal years 2017 and grams) of the drug seized fice. The candles had stick- centers will catch traffick-
A 2005 federal law that 2019, and DEA arrests relat- at border crossings, which is ers indicating they'd been ers in places they might
regulated the retail sale of ed to the drug rose nearly nearly as much as was con- inspected by authorities at think are lower risk.At the
over-the-counter drugs like 20%, the agency said. fiscated in all of 2014. the border, but the drugs crossroads of several major
pseudoephedrine — which Authorities have seen Dhillon and other law en- went undetected, he said. highways, Dallas is a natu-
can be used to make meth- a dramatic spike in the forcement officers spoke Also on display were trans- ral hub for legitimate and
amphetamine — largely amount of methamphet- at a news conference with parent evidence bags illicit commerce.
eliminated the production amine smuggled across piles of methamphetamine containing about 1,300 It's "far enough away from
of the drug in the U.S., Dhil- the U.S.-Mexico border in from two recent seizures in pounds (590 kilograms) of the U.S.-Mexico border
lon said. Now, however, al- recent months. the Atlanta area laid out in processed crystal meth that perhaps there's a false
most all the methamphet- From October through the front of them. that were seized in a Clay- sense of security," Chávez
amine consumed in the end of January, authori- Firefighters responding to ton County home along said. "But thankfully we rec-
U.S. comes from Mexico, ties seized about 50,000 an apartment fire in Cobb with about 100 gallons ognize that too."q

Lawsuit: 52 people faked Uber

accidents for insurance money

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — was filed in August. passengers of another ve-
Some South Carolina resi- The case involves 21 colli- hicle. The second vehicle
dents deliberately caused sions reported to the com- allegedly ran a stop sign
hit-and-run accidents while pany in the Columbia area and crashed into the Uber,
in Uber rides as part of an between June 2017 and causing almost $9,000 in
insurance scam, a car in- January 2019. The dam- damage, the lawsuit said.
surance company says in a age claims ranged from One person has responded
lawsuit. minor to thousands of dol- to the lawsuit and denied
The lawsuit from James Riv- lars. Many of the people the insurance company's
er Insurance says 52 people involved knew each other, claims.
were involved in an insur- the lawsuit says. A spokesman for the Co-
ance scheme that cost It says that in one incident lumbia office of the FBI said
the company more than an Uber driver was work- the agency is aware of the
$75,000 in claims, The State ing with her two passen- lawsuit but declined to say
reported Thursday. The suit gers and the driver and if it is investigating. q