N.C. NOW MAJOR HUB FOR DRUGS TRAFFICKERS FROM MEXICO SHIP HERE FOR
PACKAGING, DISTRIBUTION TO NORTH

RALEIGH - North Carolina is becoming a hub for drug traffickers who
repackage marijuana and cocaine smuggled from Mexico and send it
north, federal authorities say.

"It's a dramatic change in the way North Carolina is viewed with
regard to drug enforcement," U.S. Attorney Frank Whitney said. "It's
no longer just a state where drugs are brought to be consumed here.
They're repackaged and redistributed up the Eastern Seaboard."

Mid-level dealers in North Carolina previously traveled or sent
couriers to New York, Florida, California, Texas and Arizona. Now the
supplies come here, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Evenson, who
heads the drug section of the federal prosecutor's office in Raleigh.

South Carolina and Georgia are also becoming what the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration calls "trans-shipment" states.

Easy interstate access makes North Carolina an ideal choice, said John
Boone, acting head of the DEA office in Raleigh. Agents have tracked
cocaine from staging areas in North Carolina to Virginia, Washington,
Baltimore and farther north.

Drug agents say the new patterns of distribution are the result of
several events: the passage of the NAFTA free-trade agreement, the
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, increased immigration and the
collapse of Colombian drug cartels.

Cocaine still comes from that country, but investigators say it's
handled by smaller operators and smuggled through Mexico rather than
directly into the United States.

The increase in trade allowed by NAFTA allows thousands of commercial
trucks cross the border daily, some loaded with cocaine and
Mexican-grown marijuana. "It's virtually impossible for the border
patrol or customs to truly check every one of these vehicles," Whitney
said.

Law enforcement pressure in the traditional cocaine entry points --
Miami, Los Angeles and Houston -- has forced dealers to cut back on
their use as repackaging points, Whitney and other federal officials
say.

Smugglers turned to the highways as airport security increased after
the terrorist attacks, relying on long-established marijuana
distributing routes from Mexico into the United States.

The DEA calls organized Mexican drug traffickers "a significant
threat" in North Carolina. One of the agency's fact sheets attributes
part of the problem to the influx of Mexican immigrants.

In March, Davidson County deputies found 5 kilograms of cocaine hidden
in the spare battery of a car on Interstate 85. Davidson County is one
of several departments in North Carolina with teams that look
specifically for drugs on the interstate.

The Davidson County team last year seized more than $1 million in
suspected drug money, about 16 kilograms of cocaine and 184 pounds of
marijuana as well as methamphetamine and other drugs just from I-85,
he said.

In November, the team stopped a California driver on a traffic
violation and found 12 kilograms of cocaine headed to a transshipment
point in this state.