Drug Cartels Spreading Throughout Country

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on February 28, 2015 under Addiction Trends | Comments are off for this article

Typically, many incidents involving the drug cartels occur near the Mexican border, however law enforcement has been seeing a dangerous new trend. Drug cartels are moving into other states and taking the violence with them. Washington State is one of the areas that has seen an increase in drug cartel activity. Public officials warn that the violence will continue and the drug cartels will also continue to move throughout the nation as long as the demand for drugs remains high.

“For this area it’s sort of just unbelievable,” explained a resident wholives in a quiet West Washington suburb. Police and the DEA worked together to arrest Cristian Berrelleza Verduzco for his part in a black ice ring. Black ice is a form of methamphetamine and has gained quite a following in the northwestern states. The DEA became aware of Verduzco while they were investigating the Beltran Leyva cartel. The cartel is well known for their sale and distribution of methamphetamine, heroin and illegal fire arms.

The DEA was surprised to learn that one of the top sellers in the cartel was living in a quiet suburb in Washington State. Instead of typical drug-dealing behavior like people coming to the house at odd hours, lots of different cars in front of the house and violence and arguing in public, Verduzco kept a low profile. “There was no drug trafficking, no big parties or anything like that so they were being pretty discrete about what they were doing,” explained the neighbor.

Hiding in plain sight seems to have worked for a bit. The DEA reports that Verduzco lived in the location for years and never aroused suspicion. However, the DEA has been aware that Washington State is a common place for drug cartel members to live. An agent from the DEA explained that around 80 percent of the incidents that are investigated have ties to the drug cartels in Mexico. One reason for this incredible number is that Interstate 5 seems to be a major route of transportation for illegal drugs that come in through Arizona and Texas.