FEDS GO ALL-OUT IN WAR ON METH:

Lodi Man Among 40 Held In Latest Wave

Federal law enforcement officials said Tuesday that they have launched an
all-out, nationwide offensive against renegade distributors of
pseudoephedrine, the primary chemical used to manufacture methamphetamine.

The latest wave of arrests began late Friday, and by Tuesday agents had
rounded up 40 people, including a Lodi man, suspected of illegally
trafficking in the strictly regulated chemical. The arrests brought the
total to 140 in eight cities since the operation began in December.

Federal grand jury indictments have been returned in six federal court
districts, and another is expected in Sacramento against Jawad Hasan
Miqbelof Lodi.

Miqbel, 24, made an initial appearance Tuesday before a federal magistrate
on a criminal complaint accusing him of conspiracy in connection with more
than 1 million pseudoephedrine tablets trucked into California from Las
Vegas in April. The complaint said Miqbel knew the tablets were destined
for use by methamphetamine makers.

He is scheduled to be back in court todayfor a bail hearing.

As part of the assault -- code-named "Operation Mountain Express" -- civil
lawsuits were filed by U.S. Justice Department lawyers in Fresno and other
jurisdictions against major distributors.

The Drug Enforcement Administration also moved to revoke the registration
status of 10 distributors and executed search warrants under the DEA's
regulatory authority for the business records of more than 100 others.

The operation was unveiled Tuesday in Washington, D.C., by Attorney General
Janet Reno and DEA Administrator Donnie Marshall. They described it as the
first effort of the Special Operations Division, made up of Justice
Department lawyers and agents, and analysts from the DEA, FBI, Customs
Service and Internal Revenue Service.

"The combination of criminal, administrative and civil investigatory
approaches should have an immediate and meaningful impact on
methamphetamine trafficking by drastically limiting the availability of
pseudoephedrine and deterring other registrants from diversion," Reno said.

She said the operation should send a message to meth peddlers that "we are
continuing the fight in every way we know how so that this problem won't be
treating communities of America as crack did in the 1980s."

U.S. Attorney Paul Seave said in Sacramento on Tuesday that the operation
is "modeled on California's law enforcement strategy to crack down on meth
trafficking by prosecuting so-called legitimate businesses."

In the last decade, the chemical came into wide use in the production of
methamphetamine -- a white, powdery substance also known as crank or speed
- -- because of its ready availability in over-the-counter cold and allergy
medications.

Methamphetamine is highly addictive. It can cause brain damage and death.
It is blamed for an increase in violent crime and a number of social ills.
In 1996, Congress determined meth use "has led to devastating effects on
individuals and the community" and called for "aggressive law enforcement
action."

Meth manufacturers in California, which federal officials call the world
capital of the drug's production, began purchasing supplies of
pseudoephedrine nationwide when a law enforcement crackdown and strong
state laws made it increasingly difficult to obtain locally.

All of the individuals arrested are alleged to have been part of a loosely
structured national network unlawfully diverting pseudoephedrine to meth
organizations headquartered in Mexico and doing business in California and
elsewhere. Many of them are recent immigrants from the Middle East who are
registered with the DEA as authorized distributors of pseudoephedrine
tablets to retail outlets.

During the course of Operation Mountain Express, investigators learned that
wholesalers in Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Kentucky, Ohio, Texas,
Arkansas, Illinois and New York were shipping multi-ton quantities of the
tablets to California, where black market pricing commands as much as
$3,000 per case profit.

"This was the first time we were able to connect major pseudoephedrine
distributors directly to Mexican-controlled meth labs in the U.S.," said
Joe Keefe, chief of the Special Operations Division.

The civil lawsuit filed Tuesday in Fresno is the fourth to come from
Seave's office in a Central Valley pilot program to augment criminal
prosecutions in the war to overcome the methamphetamine plague. The three
previous cases resulted in judgments against distributors that encompassed
monetary penalties and lifetime bans on dealing in the chemical.

Tuesday's suit names Grab Bag Distributing of Modesto and its owner, Rodney
Nickerson, as defendants. According to the complaint, between October 1997
and April 1998 Nickerson purchased pseudoephedrine tablets from
out-of-state suppliers and sold huge quantities to eight small markets --
generally 144 bottles or more each week to each store.

Evidence gathered in 1996 at two Stanislaus County meth dump sites included
products shipped to Nickerson from pharmaceutical companies in Indiana and
New York, the complaint says.

It alleged that Nickerson, 64, failed to comply with requirements that he
notify DEA of the suspicious sales and positively identify his customers.

Neither Nickerson nor his lawyer could be reached Tuesday for comment.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Hirst, during the six months
covered by the complaint, Nickerson sold more than 31,750 bottles of
pseudoephedrine containing close to 2 million tablets and more than 114
million milligrams. That amount, Hirst said, could be used to manufacture
more than 200 pounds of meth with a street value in excess of $1 million.

In pseudoephedrine sales during that period to the eight small markets
mentioned in the complaint, Nickerson grossed more than $76,000, Hirst said.

"Just by reading the instructions on the bottles, anyone could tell the
sales were well beyond what any legitimate customer could use," said Hirst.

The instructions direct an adult to take no more than one tablet every four
hours, not to exceed four tablets a day. If symptoms do not improve within
seven days, the user is advised to consult a doctor.