METH STING TARGETED ASIANS, CIVIL LIBERTIES GROUP SAYS

ATLANTA -- Prosecutors and police zeroed in on convenience stores
owned by South Asians while ignoring white-owned stores during a
sweeping crackdown on methamphetamine production, the American Civil
Liberties Union contends. The motion, filed Wednesday, says that
authorities selectively targeted South Asians during an 18-month
investigation that aimed to curb the sale of household products used
to manufacture meth. "They're targeting people who don't make meth,
they don't use meth and they don't sell meth," said Christina
Alvarez, an ACLU attorney handling the case. "People should be
concerned that the government is continuing to blatantly scapegoat
certain segments of society." Prosecutors deny the allegations. The
ACLU hopes the filing will prompt a judge to toss out the case
against dozens of South Asian merchants indicted last year in
Operation Meth Merchant, a sting designed to send a message to
retailers knowingly selling meth-related products to drug makers.
Beginning in early 2004, 15 undercover agents were sent to small
grocery stores, tobacco shops and delis in six remote northwest
Georgia counties. Once there, prosecutors said the informants were
sold products ranging from antifreeze to pseudoephedrine even after
the informants told the clerks -- sometimes using slang terms -- that
they planned to make meth. The investigation raised eyebrows, though,
when 44 of the 49 retail clerks and convenience store owners indicted
were South Asian. All but one of the 24 implicated stores were owned
by South Asians. In an area where roughly 20 percent of the 600
retailers are owned by South Asians, critics said authorities were
"scapegoating" minorities. Prosecutors said federal law makes clear
that it is illegal for merchants to sell products knowing -- or with
reason to believe -- that they could be used to produce drugs.
Although a few of the cases have been tossed out, several have
yielded guilty pleas and others are headed to trial, said David
Nahmias, the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgi! a.
His o ffice would not disclose an exact number, however, because
cases are still ongoing. In a statement, Nahmias denied claims that
prosecutors intentionally targeted South Asian merchants and said
attorneys were assessing each case on its own merits.