woody with a view
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Smugglers set eyes on U.S. truck program
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/nov/24/smugglers-set-ey...
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
LAREDO, Texas (AP) | A U.S. program that offers trusted trucking companies speedy passage across American borders has begun attracting just the sort
of customers who place a premium on avoiding inspections: Mexican drug smugglers.
Most trucks enrolled in the program pause at the border for just 20 seconds before entering the United States. And nine out of 10 of them do so
without anyone looking at their cargo.
But among the small fraction of trucks that are inspected, authorities have found multiple loads of contraband, including 8 tons of marijuana seized
during one week in April.
Some specialists now question whether the program makes sense at a time when drug traffickers are willing to do almost anything to smuggle their
shipments into the United States.
The trusted-shipper system "just tells the bad guys who to target," said Dave McIntyre, former director of the Integrative Center for Homeland
Security at Texas A&M University.
The program works like this: Participating companies agree to adopt certain security measures in exchange for fast entry into the United States. They
are required to put their employees through background checks, fence in their facilities and track their trucks. They also are asked to work with
subcontractors who also have been certified under the program, which is run by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency.
The government keeps the list of participants secret, citing national security and trade secrets. But some of the 9,500 companies that are part of the
system advertise their membership to drum up business, making them targets for smugglers, who can then threaten drivers or offer them bribes.
More than half of all U.S. imports now come from companies in the program, called the Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism, or C-TPAT. Mexican
trucking companies make up only 6 percent of global membership in the system, but they account for half of its 71 security violations during the past
two years.
Mexican trucking companies face higher scrutiny than others. They get a full customs inspection every year, instead of every three years like other
participating companies.
The most common contraband is marijuana, officials say.
In a 24-hour period in April, customs officers in Laredo found 3 tons of marijuana in trucks carrying auto parts across two different bridges. Five
days after that, agents in El Paso found more than 4 tons of marijuana in a tractor-trailer hauling auto parts.
In July, the director of the program became alarmed by the number of large drug seizures along the border and issued a security bulletin, asking
participating companies to redouble their efforts against smuggling.
In Laredo, the border's busiest crossing, nearly 700 trucks a day pass through the lane at the World Trade Bridge reserved for trucks that are
certified by the trusted-carrier program, each one pausing only for a matter of seconds.
Stephen Flynn, senior fellow for Counterterrorism and National Security Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, said truckers do not feel safe
rejecting bribes, no matter what agreements their companies have made with the U.S. government.
"The basic vulnerability for a truck driver remains the 'plata-or-plomo' dilemma," Mr. Flynn said, using Spanish shorthand for taking a bribe or a
bullet.
John Chaffin, a trade lawyer near San Diego, said he had worked with one Mexican trucking company that wanted to join the program, but then pulled
out. He suspects participating companies feel pressure from drug gangs to help them smuggle drugs into the United States.
"Some Mexican truckers have figured out, 'I don't want someone thinking I'm a better target than someone else,' " Mr. Chaffin said.
Mexican authorities suspect a man who owned a participating trucking company in Aguascalientes, Mexico, was killed by drug gangs in July 2008. The
slaying of Gerardo Medrano Ibarra is unsolved.
Roberto Ramirez de la Parra, then chief of operations for Mexico's customs agency, told El Norte newspaper that exporters last year became worried
that organized crime was targeting U.S.-certified companies.
In the past, smugglers created their own fly-by-night businesses for smuggling, he said. Now they use major trucking corporations.
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noproblemo2
Super Nomad
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They are creative....
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Martyman
Super Nomad
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Let 'em come. Somebodies gotta lower these darn high weed prices. Mexican competition should help.
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Bajahowodd
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I won't take total issue with the material in this article. But I do have to put on my filtered glasses. The article comes from the Washington Times,
which is a full on right wing operation owned by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. I will believe their reportage about local traffic snarls, and maybe the
occasional mugging. But since the immigration thing and the controversey about our Mexico border has become such high profile fodder for folks on the
right, I just have to take a step back from this story. Not to mention that while not clearly explained in the article, trucking is only a smal part
of the program. Most of it has to do with air and sea shipping.
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woody with a view
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what's yer point?
i found an article (on another site and clicked thru) about Mexico and thought it might interest some folks. it sure beats reading about Adam
Lampert!
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wilderone
Ultra Nomad
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Registered: 2-9-2004
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"But I do have to put on my filtered glasses. The article comes from the Washington Times, which is a full on right wing operation owned by the
Reverend Sun Myung Moon."
ok. I now fully understand your posts. This explains a lot. Your filtered glasses - i.e. prejudices.
The article is pretty staightforward - no need to cast a political slant. My first impression - one I wrote and then decided to to send, is the
obvious - they couldn't see this coming and have something in place to counteract? Drug and conttrabad smuggling is hardly a new phenomenon.
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