MEXICAN DRUG SMUGGLING A $400B BUSINESS

Drug traffickers from Mexico have supplanted Colombians as major illegal
drug smugglers, sneaking some $400 billion worth of drugs into the United
States.

U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency officials told Knight-Ridder newspapers
authorities in Mexico are not powerful enough to deal with the drug
runners. Mexican gangs reportedly smuggle cocaine, heroin, marijuana and
methamphetamine into the United States.

More than 30 tunnels under the U.S.-Mexican border have been discovered and
U.S. officials fear smugglers could allow the tunnels to be used by
terrorists trying to get into the United States.

Anthony Placido, a DEA intelligence officer, testified before Congress that
Mexican gangs have links to drug groups in others counties and also "street
gangs, prison gangs and outlaw motorcycle gangs, who conduct most of the
retail and street-level distribution throughout the country," the report said.

The DEA identified staging areas for Mexican drug smuggling in more than a
dozen cities -- Albuquerque; Brownsville, Texas; Dallas; El Paso, Texas;
Houston; Laredo, Texas; Los Angeles; McAllen, Texas; Oklahoma City;
Phoenix; Tulsa, Okla.; San Antonio; San Diego and Tucson, Ariz.