BajaNomad
Not logged in [Login - Register]

Go To Bottom
Printable Version  
Author: Subject: Freon Smuggling Fuels Drug Dealers
Anonymous
Unregistered




Posts: N/A
Registered: N/A
Member Is Offline


[*] posted on 1-28-2005 at 11:05 PM
Freon Smuggling Fuels Drug Dealers


http://www.10news.com/investigations/4133125/detail.html

Chemical Used For Making Methamphetamine

January 26, 2005

SAN DIEGO -- Banned by the Environmental Protection Agency in 1996, Freon, a chemical used for air conditioning systems in older cars, is still being sold on the streets of San Diego. But it's not automobile shops that are necessarily interested in it -- it's drug dealers.

Freon, in liquid or gas form, is used to make methamphetamine and anyone can buy it south of the border.

10News reporter Salvador Rivera headed to Tijuana, Mexico, to find Freon. The first auto shop had it for $9 a bottle.

George Mijares said he used to make meth for a living and imported Freon was a hot commodity.

"Sometimes it's a lot much easier to get raw materials from across the border and then cook it on this side of the border," Mijares said.

Tony Ocegueda said he knows how addictive and destructive meth can be.

"(Meth) has no boundaries, age, or gender. People are starting to use it when they're younger because it's more accessible," Ocegueda said.

For example, marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and meth are the most popular items smuggled across the border. Freon is second.

Asst. U.S. Attorney Valerie Pierson prosecutes people who smuggle Freon and said it has become a real problem.

"The crime is to bring it across the border and sell it, knowing it's actually been unlawfully imported," Pierson said.

Recently, two local men were convicted of smuggling large amounts of Freon and selling it on the black market.

"There's a high profit-margin involved with this stuff. They can buy it for $100 to $125 and sell it for three times as much," Pierson said.

Pierson said she hopes Freon smuggling will be tougher next year when it also becomes illegal to sell in Mexico.

Also, a Florida man was sentence to 17 years in prison for smuggling Freon into the country. He was also ordered to pay millions in fines as a result of his conviction.
woody with a view
PITA Nomad
*******




Posts: 15938
Registered: 11-8-2004
Location: Looking at the Coronado Islands
Member Is Offline

Mood: Everchangin'

[*] posted on 1-28-2005 at 11:16 PM


seems there was a previous thread regarding this topic.

12-27-2004 "freon smuggler pleads guilty"

don't know how to post the link to that thread but a search of "freon" will suffice.




View user's profile

  Go To Top

 






All Content Copyright 1997- Q87 International; All Rights Reserved.
Powered by XMB; XMB Forum Software © 2001-2014 The XMB Group






"If it were lush and rich, one could understand the pull, but it is fierce and hostile and sullen. The stone mountains pile up to the sky and there is little fresh water. But we know we must go back if we live, and we don't know why." - Steinbeck, Log from the Sea of Cortez

 

"People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." - Theodore Roosevelt

 

"You can easily judge the character of others by how they treat those who they think can do nothing for them or to them." - Malcolm Forbes

 

"Let others lead small lives, but not you. Let others argue over small things, but not you. Let others cry over small hurts, but not you. Let others leave their future in someone else's hands, but not you." - Jim Rohn

 

"The best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer." - Cunningham's Law







Thank you to Baja Bound Mexico Insurance Services for your long-term support of the BajaNomad.com Forums site.







Emergency Baja Contacts Include:

Desert Hawks; El Rosario-based ambulance transport; Emergency #: (616) 103-0262