DEA launches major meth crackdown as record amounts flood Northwest

SEATTLE (KTVZ) – Drug Enforcement Administration Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon announced Thursday that the DEA will direct enforcement resources to methamphetamine “transportation hubs” — areas where methamphetamine is often trafficked in bulk and then distributed across the country. 

While continuing to focus on stopping drugs being smuggled across the border, DEA’s Operation Crystal Shield will ramp up enforcement to block their further distribution into America’s neighborhoods.

DEA has identified eight major methamphetamine transportation hubs where these efforts will be concentrated: Atlanta, Dallas, El Paso, Houston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Phoenix, and St. Louis. Together, these DEA Field Divisions accounted for more than 75 percent of methamphetamine seized in the U.S. in 2019.

Methamphetamine seizures in the Pacific Northwest are continuing to rise. In 2019, DEA seizures throughout the region were an all-time high of more than 3,200 pounds. Recent seizure amounts for the region are on pace to surpass last year.

“The increased volume of high grade methamphetamine flooding our Pacific Northwest neighborhoods coupled with increased overdose rates is alarming,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Keith Weis.  He further added, “Operation Crystal Shield will further enhance law enforcement efforts in key distribution points throughout the Pacific Northwest linked to the identified transportation hubs in the southwest.”

Operation Crystal Shield builds on existing DEA initiatives that target major drug trafficking networks, including the Mexican cartels that are responsible for the overwhelming majority of methamphetamine trafficked into and within the United States. From FY 2017 to FY 2019, DEA domestic seizures of methamphetamine increased 127 percent from 49,507 pounds to 112,146 pounds. During the same time frame, the number of DEA arrests related to methamphetamine rose nearly twenty percent.  

“For decades, methamphetamine has been a leading cause of violence and addiction – a drug threat that has never gone away,” said Acting Administrator Dhillon. “With a 22 percent increase in methamphetamine-related overdose deaths, now is the time to act, and DEA is leading the way with a surge of interdiction efforts and resources, targeting regional transportation hubs throughout the United States. By reducing the supply of meth, we reduce the violence, addiction, and death it spreads.”

Virtually all methamphetamine in the United States comes through major ports of entry along the Southwest Border and is transported by tractor trailers and personal vehicles along the nation’s highways to major transfer centers around the country. It is often found in poly-drug loads, alongside cocaine, heroin, and fentanyl.

Information regarding illicit drug trafficking activities can be anonymously submitted at www.dea.gov.