300 lbs of meth in Mesquite. largest single seizure in North Texas

[Coyotl]

kinda sucks when the region you live in is known for being the top producer of methamphetamine in the US.

12:00 AM CDT on Wednesday, October 28, 2009


By JASON TRAHAN / The Dallas Morning News
jtrahan@dallasnews.com


A day after federal agents and police across the country seized 729 pounds of methamphetamine in the largest crackdown ever on a Mexican drug cartel, local agents made a big find: 300 more pounds of meth in a house in Mesquite.
http://www.dallasnews.com/bi/images/clikEnlarge.gif http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...NM2N9E54.1.jpg JIM MAHONEY/DMN
A day after the sweep targeting the La Familia cartel, authorities seized 300 pounds of meth in a Mesquite home.


That load, worth about $7 million, is the largest single seizure of methamphetamine in North Texas, according to local Drug Enforcement Administration agents. More than half of all meth confiscated around the nation in recent days has now been found in North Texas.
"It was packaged and ready to move," said James Capra, head of the Dallas DEA office. "This represents what Dallas has become for the cartels, a place to stage it and move it out. It's very significant."
http://www.dallasnews.com/bi/images/clikEnlarge.gif http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcont...NM2N9E4V.1.jpg JIM MAHONEY/DMN
James Capra, head of the Dallas Drug Enforcement Administration office, says the meth found in a Mesquite home Friday was ready to move. 'This represents what Dallas has become for the cartels, a place to stage it and move it out,' he says.


The Mesquite bust resulted from intelligence – including drug ledgers and other secret cartel documents – gathered from the arrests of nearly 90 people during last week's massive Project Coronado sweep targeting the violent La Familia cartel.
Based in Michoacán, Mexico, the cartel focuses on methamphetamine smuggling. It is known for extreme violence south of the border, where its rivals are often decapitated to send a message.
Nationwide, Coronado resulted in more than 300 arrests and 729 pounds of methamphetamine seized last Wednesday and Thursday. In North Texas, agents and police found 220 pounds of methamphetamine worth about $5 million after serving more than 40 search warrants.
Federal and local police agencies trumpeted the sweep as a major victory in their efforts to get meth off the streets.
Friday's 300 additional pounds was an unexpected surprise. DEA agents found the latest record-setting stash after serving a search warrant on the house in the 3300 block of Shorewood Drive.
The home is in an older, quiet neighborhood just north of Interstate 30 near Gus Thomasson Road – the kind of neighborhood traffickers have for years preferred for drug and gun stashes, investigators say.
Agents found the 300 pounds of methamphetamine concealed in airtight tubs behind a false wall of a utility shed.
When agents questioned a person living there, Jose Guadalupe Candanosa, he told them that another man charged in the Project Coronado cases paid him to hide the drugs. Candanosa, 43, is being held at the Seagoville federal prison, accused of possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine. He has no attorney and could not be reached.
Mesquite police hadn't been called to the house all year.
"That's absolutely insane," a 27-year-old neighbor said when she learned of the amount of drugs in the house she's lived near for a year. She did not want her name published out of fear of retaliation.
"It's a really quiet neighborhood with older people," she said. "This is super shocking. I never knew it was going on."
She said that there are "like, eight cars" at the house at all times, but not much unusual foot traffic.
People at the house Tuesday declined to talk about the bust.
Capra said that his agents have seen lower-level cartel associates working in jobs such as mechanics, lawn men, cooks and busboys, tow truck drivers and construction workers – all lured in by the promise of big money or family ties.
"The purpose is to fit in," Capra said. "They go to work, raise their kids. They don't want to bring attention to what they're doing."
Stash houses in quiet neighborhoods often go undetected until there's a bust, leaving neighbors feeling unsettled.
"I get questions all the time from the different communities: How do we tell?" said Dallas police Deputy Chief Jan Easterling, narcotics commander. "A lot of these people aren't attracting the attention with the heavy foot traffic, so there are no obvious red flags."
More worrisome than cash and drug caches are stores of guns.
Federal agents say that La Familia members smuggled high-powered weapons purchased here into Mexico. Court documents filed in Fort Worth say that one La Familia cell was smuggling up to 50 weapons per week, including powerful 50-caliber guns, using straw buyers.
At times, a La Familia enforcer in Mexico was on the phone with the straw buyers during the gun purchases, negotiating prices, documents show.
Little is known publicly about the dozens of people arrested in the La Familia bust last week, including its cell leaders, who typically come up from Mexico with the intent to deal drugs. One of the La Familia cell leaders is believed to be a breeder of thoroughbred horses who spent his free time playing volleyball when he wasn't being followed to church by federal agents.
The leaders recruit others to package, store and smuggle the narcotics around the area to suppliers and customers. "Lookouts" are used for counter-surveillance during particularly large transactions, court documents show.
Investigators, using wiretaps, must parse the lingo of the deal. One set of accused La Familia associates based in Fort Worth chose a mechanics' motif when allegedly referring to drugs – ordering "motors" from a "shop" or a "warehouse."
Investigators believe methamphetamine trafficking is increasing. That's because meth sells for about $23,000 per pound, compared with about $10,000 per pound for cocaine. A typical user might buy from a fraction of a gram to more than an ounce, spending anywhere from $20 to $1,500.
Prices have gone up because production has shifted south of the border. Changes in American drug laws make raw ingredients harder to come by in the U.S. This has led to large manufacturing operations, or "super labs," in Mexico, where ingredients are easier to get.
Cartels can charge a premium because the drugs now must be smuggled over the border.
There is also a big demand in the U.S. for methamphetamine as the market for cocaine is on the decline, experts say. That is partly the result of the ramped-up enforcement activity on cocaine traffickers in recent years
One of the draws of methamphetamine is that its sped-up effects can last for up to 12 hours, investigators say. Users return to the drug because it is so highly addictive.
"It was once considered a poor man's kind of drug because it was homegrown," said Terri Wyatt, spokeswoman for the Dallas DEA office. "But now, it's lost that stigma."

[transplant]

Nope, it is still the "poor man's drug." lol

Sersiously, that is a lot of meth they seized.

[Coyotl]

Originally Posted by transplant

Nope, it is still the "poor man's drug." lol

LOL.

they make it seem like just 'cause the high end dealers are making bank that somehow changes the profile of the bottom end clientelle. It's still the same old hookers, truckers, hillbillies, and speed freaks that are smoking the stuff.

[BLAZEN]

they also found another house locally with about the same amount a few weeks prior

[transplant]

Originally Posted by Coyotl

LOL.

they make it seem like just 'cause the high end dealers are making bank that somehow changes the profile of the bottom end clientelle. It's still the same old hookers, truckers, and speed freaks smoking the stuff.

It's called a trash buy for a reason.

[BradH]

Friend of the family lives across the street from this house. (And its about a half mile from me).

Anyway, they said it was nothing out of the ordinary. Family had lived there for 6-7 years. Some youngish women with kids. Alleged boyfriend was coming over randomly. Then some older folks moved in recently. FBI shut down the entire street that day with 20~ vehicles. Would've been fun to take pics of.

[-m-]

I think Mesquite is actually built on a gigantic slab of meth.

[johnny861]

Originally Posted by -m-

I think Mesquite is actually built on a gigantic slab of meth.

Methsquite, Texas.

[Funkenstein]

(Merritt Boom boom pow remix goes here)