Conley
12-04-2011, 09:24 AM
WASHINGTON — Undercover American narcotics agents have laundered or smuggled millions of dollars in drug proceeds as part of Washington’s expanding role in Mexico's fight against drug cartels, according to current and former law enforcement officials.
The agents, primarily with the Drug Enforcement Administration (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/d/drug_enforcement_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org), have handled shipments of hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal cash across borders, those officials said, to identify how criminal organizations move their money, where they keep their assets and, most important, who their leaders are.
They said agents had deposited the drug proceeds in accounts designated by traffickers, or in shell accounts set up by agents.The officials said that while the D.E.A. conducted such operations in other countries, it began doing so in Mexico only in the past few years.
The high-risk activities raise delicate questions about the agency’s effectiveness in bringing down drug kingpins, underscore diplomatic concerns about Mexican sovereignty, and blur the line between surveillance and facilitating crime. As it launders drug money, the agency often allows cartels to continue their operations over months or even years before making seizures or arrests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/world/americas/us-drug-agents-launder-profits-of-mexican-cartels.html
Your tax dollars at work. Millions of dollars going back and forth over the border and the DEA lets it slide. I wonder how much money ends up in the pockets of these guys on the border...it's hard to keep track of all that dough. A few dimes here, a few dimes there. The war on drugs has made a lot of people rich.
The agents, primarily with the Drug Enforcement Administration (http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/d/drug_enforcement_administration/index.html?inline=nyt-org), have handled shipments of hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal cash across borders, those officials said, to identify how criminal organizations move their money, where they keep their assets and, most important, who their leaders are.
They said agents had deposited the drug proceeds in accounts designated by traffickers, or in shell accounts set up by agents.The officials said that while the D.E.A. conducted such operations in other countries, it began doing so in Mexico only in the past few years.
The high-risk activities raise delicate questions about the agency’s effectiveness in bringing down drug kingpins, underscore diplomatic concerns about Mexican sovereignty, and blur the line between surveillance and facilitating crime. As it launders drug money, the agency often allows cartels to continue their operations over months or even years before making seizures or arrests.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/04/world/americas/us-drug-agents-launder-profits-of-mexican-cartels.html
Your tax dollars at work. Millions of dollars going back and forth over the border and the DEA lets it slide. I wonder how much money ends up in the pockets of these guys on the border...it's hard to keep track of all that dough. A few dimes here, a few dimes there. The war on drugs has made a lot of people rich.