POT BUST A GIANT LOSS FOR SMUGGLERS

Seizure Is Large Even For A City With An Image As A Narcotics Hub

Authorities charged a truck driver with narcotics trafficking Thursday
after seizing more than 7 tons of marijuana, highlighting what experts
described as Harris County's leading role as a distribution center for
illicit drugs.

An anonymous tip led drug agents to the drab warehouse in northwest
Harris County late Wednesday, where they said they found one of the
largest marijuana stashes they've seen in recent memory.

Inside wooden crates were 502 bundles of marijuana that had been
wrapped in plastic and coated with calcium carbonate to mask the odor.
Authorities said the 15,000-pound haul had a street value of $25
million to $40 million.

"We've always been a major hub for narcotics trafficking," said
Houston Police Capt. Stephen Smith. "Almost everything from Mexico
comes through Houston."

Some of the same traits that draw legitimate businesses to the Houston
area -- including a transportation infrastructure that includes major
airports, seaports and easy freeway access -- are also attractive to
drug cartels, he said.

The marijuana bales most likely were smuggled across the border from
Mexico, investigators said, and were brought into Houston from the Rio
Grande Valley.

"They were probably going to break it down into smaller loads and then
transport them, probably through Atlanta, and to the East Coast," said
Stan Furce, a former Drug Enforcement Administration agent who heads
the local High-Intensity Drug Trafficking Area office.

Following the tip, Harris County Sheriff's deputies converged on the
warehouse in the 7300 block of West Road. They spotted Louis Mendez,
29, driving away in a tractor-trailer about 10 p.m. Wednesday.

They noticed Mendez wasn't using his headlights. That gave deputies a
reason to stop the truck, which they searched, finding a small amount
of cocaine and marijuana.

'It's a major hub' A door leading to the warehouse was unlocked. The
deputies found a Ford Crown Victoria, an AR-15 rifle and several crates.

"I've never seen a load of marijuana as big as this," said Harris
County Sheriff's Lt. J.D. Glesmann, who has investigated narcotics
trafficking since 1993.

Bruce Bagley, a professor at the University of Miami who studies
narcotics trafficking, said the haul was one of the largest he has
heard of.

"It shows a high degree of confidence (among the smugglers) because it
is uncommon for such a large (amount) of marijuana to be moved,"
Bagley said.

Investigators have tracked narcotics from Houston to Atlanta, parts of
Florida and along the Eastern seaboard to New York.

"We have stuff that comes through town and we have stuff that is
warehoused here," Furce said. "It's a major hub."

The South Texas corridor, beginning in Laredo and stretching along
U.S. 59 into Houston and beyond, is a major path for narcotics
trafficking into the U.S., said John Lindsay, regional director for
DARE, the drug education office.

"The majority of it (narcotics smuggling) is going to be by land,"
Lindsay said.

Cartels, drug gangs The bus lines that bring people from Mexico to
Houston also have been used by gangs to smuggle drugs into the country.

A likely suspect is a traveler without any luggage who has a one-way
ticket.

"We seize a lot of money coming through there," Smith
said.

A Mexico-based criminal gang called the Gulf Cartel is behind most of
the narcotics smuggling leading to Houston and throughout southeast
Texas, authorities said.

Colombian drug gangs have been increasingly relying on Mexico-based
groups to handle the smuggling operations.

"They pay a surcharge and the Mexicans bring it in," Furce said. "They
have the distribution networks down pat."

Although the founder of the Gulf Cartel, Osiel Cardenas, has been
behind bars in Mexico since 2003 -- and a $5 million reward is offered
for the capture of his deputy, Jorge Costilla-Sanchez, investigators
said the Gulf Cartel's clout has continued to mount.

Ray D'Alessio, a DEA spokesman, said much of the illicit trade is
hidden in secret caches or stored among legitimate items, such as produce.

"A good portion of it is intercepted, but unfortunately quite a good
portion of it gets across," D'Alessio said.

Branching out The Mexican gangs have increasingly moved into other
varieties of narcotics, including producing methamphetamine that
eventually finds its way to Houston and other cities.

"If meth could supplant cocaine, it would be better (for the Mexican
gangs) because they wouldn't have to pay the Colombians anything,"
Furce said. "They would have complete control over their destiny."

Investigators say smugglers have shown ingenuity as they shuttle the
drugs from the point of origin to the buyers -- including digging
tunnels across the border into the United States.

"The traffickers operated with unlimited resources, by land and by
sea," said Phil Jordan, a former director of EPIC, the El Paso
Intelligence Center, which monitors narcotics operations along the
US-Mexico border.

"The limited responses that we have against the cartels can, at best,
be described as a holding action," Jordan said.

Because most drug traffickers use cheap and disposable cell phones to
conduct their business, it is becoming increasingly difficult to
monitor their conversations and trace their calls, authorities said.

"When the deal is over, the deal is over and the phone goes with it,"
Smith said.

NAFTA's effects The North American Free Trade Agreement, known as
NAFTA, promised open trade and faster modes of travel for Canada, the
United States and Mexico -- the three nations that signed the accord in
1992.

However, narcotics investigators said NAFTA also has played a major
part in the increasing levels of violence along the border and an
upsurge in the drug trade.

"I call it the 'North American Free Trafficking Agreement,'" Jordan
said.

Many law enforcement agencies that fight the drug trade weren't
particularly surprised that their battles became more intense
following the adoption of NAFTA, Furce said.

Police said much of the gang violence that erupts in Houston can be
directly linked to the drug trade -- often a fight about turf or a
robbery of a rival trafficker.

"When it's all said and done, it's two drug dealers ripping (each
other) off," Smith said.

Tip from rival gang? The anonymous tip that led to the arrest of
Mendez might have come from a rival drug gang, Bagley said.

They often make the calls to disrupt the efforts of
competitors.

"If they don't kill each other, they rat each other out," he said.

Mendez was taken into custody and charged with possession of a
controlled substance and possession of marijuana with intent to
deliver, authorities said.

He remains at the Harris County Jail on bail set at more than $1
million for both counts.