FBI CHIEF: DRUGS FUEL CRIME

EL PASO -- Top U.S. law enforcement officials on Monday described drug
cartels that are increasingly mobile, tech savvy, diverse and
transnational, factors that are challenging efforts to curb border
violence fueled by big profits.

Modern organized crime organizations are "borderless," said FBI
Director Robert S. Mueller III, who added that the FBI is "deeply
concerned about high levels of drug trafficking, human smuggling and
gang activity," as well as with the surge in violent crimes linked to
the drug trade such as homicides, kidnappings and extortion.

Mueller was among the featured speakers at the two-day Border Security
Conference at the University of Texas at El Paso, which continues Tuesday.

U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Texas, the conference host, said this
year's themes are border protection and effective commerce.

Mueller said much of the increased violence in Juarez that has claimed
hundreds of lives this year is related to two groups fighting over the
corridor drug dealers use to introduce cocaine, marijuana, heroin and
methamphetamines into the U.S.

The main factions vying for control of the Juarez-El Paso corridor are
led by Carrillo Fuentes and Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman Loera.

U.S. law enforcement have detected Mexican drug cartels in nearly 200
U.S. cities and practically every state. According to a United Nations
report released last year, the Juarez cartel has a presence in more
than 35 countries.

Mueller also said the Barrio Azteca gang, which has ties to the Juarez
drug cartels, represent the most significant gang threat in the
region. But, "we have indicted 16 (gang) leaders and expect more
arrests," Mueller said.

Michael J. Sullivan, acting director of the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Susan Lane, director of the Office
of Intelligence/U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement; and Anthony
Placido, assistant administrator and intelligence chief for the Drug
Enforcement Administration, also addressed the gathering that
attracted defense vendors, security specialists, academics and others.

Placido said the global drug trade is a $323 billion business, and it
is estimated that the U.S. accounts for $63 billion of that amount.

"To put it in perspective, nine out of 10 countries have annual
budgets that are less than this," he said. "The violence associated
with drugs is legendary, brutal and it is driven by greed."

Placido said that there is also evidence that drug profits are being
used to fund terrorism and that even counterfeit cigarette smuggling
has been used for that purpose.

Criminal organizations "are not only poly-drug, but also poly-crime
and trans-national," he added.

Sullivan said 90 percent of all illegal weapons seized in Mexico are
from the United States, mostly from the four Southwestern states.
"Two-thirds of them were traced back to Texas," he said.

Mexico considers the illegal arms trade its No. 1 national security
threat.

Security experts also said organized crime groups are using computers
and other technologies to further their illicit enterprises.

Manuel Suarez-Mier, legal attache for the Mexico's Office of the
Attorney General, said it's important to hit drug dealers where it
hurts, "in their profits ... money laundering."

Despite what may seem like a formidable battle, some officials noted
that Mexico's crackdown on the cartels, which also has resulted in the
deaths of numerous police and innocent people, has slowed the flow of
drugs into the United States and has increased the drugs' cost on the
retail market.

The conference Tuesday will include experts from the U.S. Northern
Command, the National Research Center for Border Security and
Immigration and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, among others.