Marijuana stash houses and seizures on the rise

Roachclip

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Stash houses and marijuana seizures in Tucson have been dramtically increasing over the last 18 months.

On Tuesday, drug agents busted an international drug trafficking ring.

The Dominguez drug organization had ties to Jamaican smuggling organizations. It's reported they were responsible for bringing up to $1 million worth of marijuana into Southern Arizona every day.

Captain Dave Neri of the Counter Narcotics Alliance, a multi-agency drug task force says, "Just in the investigation we've done with this one group, we have connected them to other stash houses and distributions organizations in LA, Ohio, New York, New Jersey at a minimum."

So how are those drugs crossing the border and ending up in stash houses?

Captain Neri believes, "The proximity of Tucson to the Arizona border; recognizing we are in the easiest pathway to get narcotics across the border."

Once the drugs make it across the border, I- 10 and I-19 are used to funnel the drugs to Tucson and points beyond.

Authorities say they are funneling a lot.

Part of that is because Mexico is growing more marijuana than ever before. Authorities say it seems now the weather there has been so good that growing and harvesting is occurring nearly on a year round basis making the availability so much greater.

It's also more lucrative to smuggle in more amounts of marijuana. It's a matter of economics.

Captain Neri adds, "If you are going to take the risk with 1,000 pounds, might as well take it to 2,000 or 5,000 and we're seeing more and more volumes like that come across. "

KVOA
Lupita Murillo
August 15, 2004
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