FEDS UP THE ANTE IN DRUG-SMUGGLING FIGHT

Dateline: Algodones Sand Dunes Recreation Area

In the eastern Imperial County desert here anti-drug agents with the U.S.
Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement are waging a new battle
against drug traffickers.

The fight is not new as drug trafficking is not a new threat to the area.
It's a crime that is perpetrated all along the Imperial Valley border with
Mexico.

What is new is that investigators with BICE -- better known as ICE -- the
investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, are for the
first time pouring their anti-drug smuggling resources into the eastern
desert. Before that, agents said, they did not have the resources to
investigate that section of the county.

As a result, drug traffickers had some success in moving their loads across
the border in the section of the desert where the landscape consists of
sweeping sand dunes. Agents say they now hope to gain the upper hand on the
traffickers.

ICE agents spoke Tuesday about their interdiction efforts in the eastern
desert. They are probing what they think might be a single well-organized
drug-trafficking group that has exploited the eastern desert, moving
marijuana and possibly cocaine across the border.

Agents hope to dismantle the group. Short of that, if they can make it
unprofitable for the organization to bring narcotics across the border,
that too would be a victory.

"It's a real cat-and-mouse game and they're winning the game in that we
haven't caught them," said Ricardo Sandoval, agent-in-charge of the local
BICE office of investigations.

Agents said it is possible rather than just one trafficking group working
the area there could be several groups. ICE agents don't yet have a clear
answer to that.

ICE Supervisory Special Agent Brad Mellon said indications have led him to
speculate it could be one group making use of the area.

Another question agents are facing is whether it is a new group of
traffickers working the area or whether the smugglers have been embedded
there for some time.

One point is clear, Mellon said; the traffickers have found ways to exploit
weaknesses in the coverage of law enforcement agencies and have managed to
move narcotics across the border, possibly 500 pounds each crossing.

Another point is clear, Mellon said.

"They are starting to irritate us," he said.

Mellon added it is time for ICE agents, working with the U.S. Border
Patrol, also part of the Office of Homeland Security, to turn the tables on
the traffickers.

"We need to start exploiting their weaknesses," Mellon said, adding agents
also are working with the California Highway Patrol in the area

Mellon described the traffickers as possibly being part of a structured
transportation group moving narcotics for several drug organizations, one
organization or the group could be moving its own narcotics.

When asked if the group could be working with the Arellano Felix
organization, Mellon said he simply does not have an answer.

"At the end of the day they may not know who they are working for," Mellon
said, adding the group may have been contracted to move someone else's
marijuana.

Mellon said the traffickers have been moving marijuana through the
Buttercup Valley Recreation Area, a section of the sand dunes used heavily
by off-road enthusiasts.

He said the traffickers bring drugs across the border in four-wheel-drive
vehicles and then enter Interstate 8. He added the traffickers have
counter-surveillance techniques such as using advance scouts on all-terrain
vehicles. They also have established escape routes.

The traffickers have given a considerable amount of resources into their
operations in the eastern desert, Mellon said, and judging by the vehicles
they have, they appear to be well-financed. That means, he said, they have
had some success in moving drugs.

During the height of the recreational season, the traffickers blend in with
off-road enthusiasts, which aids in their efforts to transport narcotics.

In the last month ICE agents have focused efforts in the eastern desert
area with Border Patrol and the Highway Patrol, Mellon said the increased
efforts have made some difference.

"I'm not saying we have stopped them from crossing," he said. "We are at
least making them work a little harder to bring this stuff across."

As an indication the stepped-up efforts have had an effect, Mellon said on
the day ICE agents moved into the desert, the Andrade Port of Entry had two
drug seizures in a single day. He said the seizures showed traffickers were
pushed out of the open desert. Two arrests were made in those seizures.

Mellon said arrests are key to the investigation. Capturing the smugglers
is difficult, however, since once the smugglers know they are being
watched, they will endanger innocent lives to evade capture. He said the
attitude of the traffickers is "the public be damned."

On the other hand, he said, those in law enforcement must consider the
safety of the public when it comes to attempts to apprehend the traffickers.

"It's like a football game, but only one side has referees and rules," he said.

Mellon said he thinks eventually ICE agents can dismantle the trafficking
organization or organizations given enough manpower and resources, but that
will take time.

In the meantime the goal is to make the smuggler relocate or change the way
they move drugs. Either way, the traffickers could become more vulnerable
and that could bring their downfall.