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Rich and powerful transnational drug trafficking organizations make sure that
sufficient quantities of illegal drugs are available to meet the demand in New Jersey and
elsewhere. Accepting that certain quantities of contraband, and the lower-rung people
delivering it, are expendable, the leaders of large drug trafficking networks matter-offactly
write off such losses while netting huge profits and great power. Often, these
leaders never enter the United States, and they further insulate themselves from law
enforcement scrutiny by concealing their illicit activities within legitimate enterprises
operating as fronts. They also directly conduct their illegal businesses only with a limited
number of trusted associates, and even those underlings may be kept in the dark about
large segments of the illegal operations. Finally, the leaders learn from their
organizations’ mistakes just as legitimate entrepreneurs do, and they adapt quite
successfully, at least in the short term, to changing market conditions and to law
enforcement’s interdiction efforts. When a particular group’s long-term success is
disrupted by internecine warfare, rivalries with other groups or government crackdowns,
including environmentally risky defoliation projects, other groups based in other locales
are capable of carrying on the trade without any significant slackening of supply.
The DEA’s Alexander Gourley pointed to characteristics of New Jersey that make
it a particularly attractive destination for drug smugglers. He cited the state’s established
abuser population, its proximity to major East Coast population centers and its extensive
transportation infrastructure. He noted, “Drug traffickers exploit the sheer volume of
passengers and cargo transported via this infrastructure to conceal their drug smuggling
activities.” Mr. Gourley also maintained that criminal organizations “take advantage of
the ethnic diversity of New Jersey to facilitate their drug trafficking activities.” He
testified:
Martin D. Ficke, Associate Special Agent in Charge of the Newark Office of the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, testified at the Commission’s public hearing that drug contraband crosses into New Jersey via several international boundaries, including Newark Liberty International Airport, the Ports of Newark and Elizabeth and other venues at Perth Amboy, Atlantic City, Salem, Camden, and Teterboro Airport. Much of the narcotics smuggled into or through New Jersey winds up in the hands of New Jersey users, according to Mr. Ficke. He testified that “about a quarter of all of the [millions of] passengers that are traveling into Newark Liberty Airport are traveling internationally.” He added that with the expansion of Terminal C at Newark Liberty it is anticipated that over the next few years international traffic there “could increase by up to 33 percent.” Mr. Ficke noted that drug contraband transport techniques “continue to evolve.” He cited encounters with concealed narcotics in false-sided suitcases, body girdles, vests, seat containers, express-mail deliveries, and drug-filled balloons or condoms swallowed by couriers. “One particularly troubling case,” he testified, “involved 13 recent graduates of Memorial High School in West New York” smuggling an estimated 12 pounds of swallowed heroin into the United States. He described a particularly ingenious method used by determined and well-financed traffickers that is “extremely difficult to detect”: the smuggling of heroin saturated in clothing. In this scheme, Ficke said, the drug is placed in liquid form, soaked into the cloth, dried, transported and then recovered through a chemical extraction process once in the United States.
Mr. Ficke related the difficulty presented when airport employees are corrupted to
assist the traffickers:
Mr. Ficke described the elaborate and expensive lengths to which drug contraband
smugglers will go to develop so-called “front” organizations and other methods to foil
officials’ interception efforts:
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