Mexico Trucker Online Articles

Nuevo Laredo drug testing of public transit workers complete. 1600 tested, only 4 positive and dismissed

Public Transit Authority has finished the first phase of drug testing of public transit employees in Nuevo Laredo. Of 1600 tested, only 4 failed.

We wrote last week about the Public Transit delegation in the border city of Nuevo Laredo had began testing all city transit and taxi drivers for drug and alcohol use and re-certifying those who passed. The first phase of the testing is complete, and while not surprising to us, debunks more of the propaganda being passed around by groups such as OOIDA and the Teamsters concerning lack of drug testing in Mexico.

Eduardo Cuellar Bridges, deputy of the Public Transit delegation in Nuevo Laredo, reports at the end of the first phase of testing, 1600 bus and taxi drivers were tested and only 4 returned positive. Those 4 were terminated after a second sample was tested and confirmed the results of the first test.

The operators dismissed for positive returns for drug use, are given the opportunity to reapply at a later date, after successfully completing an approved drug rehab program, and submitting to regular and random drug tests for an indeterminate period.

The delegation is now waiting for an additional 600 tests to be received in order to test the remaining 569 operators who did not test in the first round.

The drug tests, identical to those performed in the US on employees in safety sensitive functions. Five substances are detected in this analysis, marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and epecios.. Those who pass the drug tests and subsequent skills test will be issued a certification card.

SOURCE

Re-certification of public bus and taxi drivers in Nuevo Laredo includes drug, skills testing.

Operators of taxis, city bus and other public conveyances are being tested for new certifications to give better confidence to the daily rider.

NUEVO LAREDO .- Eduardo Cuellar Bridges, deputy representative of public transport in Nuevo Laredo, said that there have been 300 drug tests administered under a new anti doping regimen and so far only one operator tested positive out of a total of 6,900 public service operators who drive city buses, taxis and other public conveyances.

“We are contracted with a certified laboratory in Monterey, which immediately reports to the Delegation when positive results are obtained” Cuellar said Bridges.

The tests began on Monday, with a goal to finish by Friday with 500 tests remaining in addition to refresher driving and safety tests.

The cost for this test is 150 pesos, paid by the operator, which is turned over to the Red Cross of Mexico. the State government paid for the testing so the fee is donated to the Red Cross

Five substances are detected in this analysis: marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, and PHP.

“Those that pass the tests will be issued new identity cards, some who haven’t been reissued in more than 14 years” Cuellar Bridges explained.

“Today we are beginning tighter control of operators of public transit within the delegation and Under-Secretary of State.” With these measures, the Delegation of Transportation has better control of the operators, since they are the cornerstone of public transportion, and to show they are of the ability to perform their work in a safe and professional manner and to show the public that the person driving the city bus or taxi has the capacity and skills necessary.

“We hope that within 18 days and all operators will have been tested for drugs and their driving skills reconfirmed,” the official said.

Cuellar Bridges also stated the next step in the reorganization of the city transport delegation will be to have all operators permits digitized for instant availability to inspectors and law enforcement.

Source:

DOJ Report debunks the myth that Mexican trucks are the main conveyance for illegal drugs

The U.S. Department of Justice National Drug Intelligence Center has released its National Drug Threat Assessment 2011 and to the consternation of many who have made the claim that Mexican trucks are the main conveyances with which drugs enter the US, pretty much debunks this idea.

And as usual, we can count on Charlie Morasch, a Landlinemag.com staff hack, to spin the report in a direction that evidence doesn’t indicate.

Morasch uses quotes from a FBI special agent, Kevin Donovan to get his points across, yet one of the remarks attributed to this agent totally blows one of OOIDA and the TEAMSTER positions against Mexican trucking clean out of the water.

In that regard, of Mexican trucking firms being owned by cartels for the express purpose of moving contraband, Donovan is quoted as saying;

In some instances, drug organizations purchase trucks and establish their own motor carrier for the purpose of controlling the transportation leg of their operation.

“It does offer them the opportunity to have more control over the individuals that are transporting the loads. But oftentimes the individuals transporting the loads won’t even necessarily know they’re carrying narcotics because it’s secreted in a legitimate load. That way the driver doesn’t even appear to be nervous because they don’t even know the drugs are there.

Establishing a motor carrier, however, isn’t widely used for reasons every trucking business is aware of: Truck ownership, maintenance and state and federal licensing upkeep are costly.

“From a business perspective, it is an expensive route to take.”

“And the bottom line is,” he said, “it’s a business.”

And it’s certain these trucks would never stand up to the scrutiny that would allow them to operate throughout the US.

Donovan stopped short of saying trucks were the most widely used method for illegal drug transport into the US, something OOIDA, Teamsters and others opposed to Mexican trucks continue to maintain.

So, how do these trans national criminal organizations (TCO’s) move their product? According to the report, they generally smuggle smaller loads of cocaine,heroin, and methamphetamine in noncommercial vehicles (cars, SUVs, and pickup trucks), most likely to blend in with cross-border traffic. Some of the larger loads come across in non commercial and commercial vehicles but likely as not, they’re caught at the border.

Interestingly enough, The number of illicit drug seizures involving noncommercial conveyances at the Southwest Border greatly exceeds the number of seizures involving commercial conveyances.
Analysis of NSS seizure data reveals that only 578 of the 34,274 seizure incidents at and between Southwest Border POEs between 2005 and 2010j involved commercial vehicles. These seizures accounted for less
than 10 percent of the total quantity of illicit drugs seized.

More than 99 percent of illicit drug seizures made between POEs in Arizona and New Mexico involve marijuana; more than 91 percent of the marijuana seized in these incidentsis seized from smugglers on foot.

At the interior POE’s in Texas, Signs indicate that more than 900 US CDL holders have had their licenses revoked under the Texas Hold Em’ Initiative. This is further proof of what the DOJ reports as to the method that drugs make their way into the country. Not by Mexican trucks but by non descript personal vehicles and on the backs of humans.

Canadian Trucker admits smuggling drugs into Canada

BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Canadian truck driver who pleaded guilty Wednesday to smuggling cocaine in the floorboards of his truck was part of an operation that sent more than 1½ tons of drugs across the U.S. border into Canada since 2009, federal authorities said.

Ravinder Arora, 30, of Brampton, Ontario, pleaded guilty in federal court Wednesday to conspiring to export cocaine. He faces at least 10 years in prison at his December sentencing.

Arora was about to cross the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge from western New York into Ontario last September when his nervous demeanor led U.S. border agents to search his truck, authorities said. Agents found 213 pounds of cocaine worth more than $3.8 million in a compartment beneath the trailer’s floor. It was believed to be the largest single narcotics seizure in the region’s history.

As part of his a plea agreement, Arora admitted making four other trips and agreed to cooperate in the continuing investigation into what authorities believe is a larger smuggling operation.

Two other people, including the owner of the trucking company that employed Arora, are awaiting trial.

Investigators said Arora would pick up the cocaine at a warehouse in Chino, Calif., and drive to a warehouse in the Buffalo suburb of Cheektowaga, where legitimate cargo was piled on top of a false floor concealing the drugs. He then drove into Canada to deliver the drugs to a warehouse in Mississauga for eventual street sale in the Toronto area.

Arora was promised $8,000 per smuggling trip, according to court documents.

Arora’s attorney, Parmanand Prashad, said Wednesday that his client “deeply regrets his actions and was used by others who were making the big money.

“He has since realized that the risks he took were not worth the penalty,” Prashad said.

Based on ledgers seized during the investigation, the operation is believed to have made nine successful trips before Arora’s arrest in September 2010. The group ushered an estimated 3,500 pounds of cocaine across the border, according to U.S. and Canadian law enforcement authorities, who highlighted Wednesday’s plea at a news conference at the international Peace Bridge.

“It was a very good concealment technique, under the floor in the support structures of the trailer,” said James Engleman, director of field operations for U.S. Customs and Border Protection. He said an X-ray of Arora’s trailer and a pass by a drug-sniffing dog were inconclusive, leading officers to “follow their gut” and pull up the floorboards.

“With some X-ray inspections … some a second-grader could say, ‘I can see what’s there.’ Other times you look at it and there’s no definition, there just appears to be something unusual in a given area,” Engleman said. “This was a very professional job. This wasn’t an afterthought, quick concealment technique. They spent a lot of time to build a professional quality concealment on these trailers.”

The group also is believed to have smuggled ecstasy and marijuana into the United States, as well as cash.

Parminder Sidhu, who hired Arora as a driver at his company, Prime 9, is in custody in Canada and awaiting extradition, U.S. Attorney William Hochul said. Sidhu is charged with conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to export cocaine. It was unknown whether he has an attorney. A home telephone listing was disconnected and a phone number for Prime 9 could not be located.

Attack on Monterrey casino leaves 63 dead and is an act of DOMESTIC TERRORISM

The attack on a popular Monterrey casino yesterday afternoon that left 63 people dead and dozens more injured, mostly women, has elevated the narco violence into Mexico into a de facto act of DOMESTIC TERRORISM and the response to this cowardly attack against innocent civilians should be treated as such.

An attack on the Casino Royale in the upscale enclave of San Joronimo, a wealthy suburb of Monterrey Nuevo Leon, left dozens injured and 63 dead, mostly women, can only be described as an act of DOMESTIC TERRORISM.

A $30 million peso reward has been offered by the PGR for information leading to the arrest of the individuals involved. One of the cars used by the gunman, a Cooper Mini has been found and is undergoing forensic examination and a sketch of one of the gunmen, based on witnesses, has been released. Surveillance video has also been posted.

Unlike most acts of violence in Monterrey and the rest of Mexico which to many have become commonplace, although far from the “wild west” scenario painted by most in the American media, this particular act of terrorism has elicited literally thousands of comments of outrage and protest on blogs and newspaper websites in Mexico. The people are finally fed up it seems and are speaking out.

Of course, President Calderon expressed his outrage at this “act of terror” as did President Obama. President Calderon is finally asking the US for help, a request long overdue. No one knows yet in what manner or form this help will come but it needs to be quick.

In my opinion, shared by others, Calderon needs to ignore entities such as the Mexico Human Rights Commission, the UN and any other “kumbaya” pacifists and release the military and Federal Police forces to put this down once and for all. Forget arresting the bad guys, parading them before the media and holding them for 45 days while a judicial system rife with corruption decides whether there is enough evidence to continue holding them for trial. Forget about holding them in prisons (Mexico doesn’t have county jails) awaiting trial, where they can live a life of luxury if they can afford it and leave at will. ARREST and SUMMARILY EXECUTE! PERIOD! From my 15 years living in this country and more than 30 years traveling Mexico, Federal law enforcement is very capable, rarely make errors and are amongst the most honest of the LE agencies in Mexico. That’s just my personal opinion and observations.

There is no death penalty in Mexico and a life sentence is 30 years, so let’s eradicate the trash and be done with it. Perhaps the others who would follow, would realize that Mexico and it’s citizens are fed up and mean business.

Around Mexico, we’re seeing citizens rising up and doing the job the local gendarmes can’t or won’t do and the same needs to happen in Monterrey. Time will tell.

A comprehensive gallery of photos of this massacre is available for viewing at IMMIGRATION CLEARINGHOUSE where they’ll be following this tragedy closely.

One thing people have to remember though is that no truckers were involved or harmed in the execution of the terrorist attack. In other words, for all those who try to use the violence in Mexico as an excuse to ban Mexican trucks from the US, don’t go there. This is an entirely separate issue..

1 million truck violations cited at border crossing? The rest of the story

The rest of the story emerges about the El Paso times story we wrote about earlier this week, concerning the thousands of violations reported by Texas DPS inspectors at two commercial crossings in El Paso Texas.

While we have some concerns about the number of violations reported over 4.5 years, the Times story claims 1.2 million inspections were done at the Zaragosa and Bridge of the Americas in El Paso, we could only find 811,574 inspections reported on the FMCSA NAFTA STATISTICS pages.

Some have suggested that the numbers are flawed considering the man hours that would need to be expended to come up with this number of inspections in the time frame indicated. That’s possible but highly improbable considering the methods used and the manpower on site.

Section 350(c) required, among other things, state inspection/weigh stations be established at all commercial crossing along the southern border, to monitor and inspect incoming Mexican trucks, especially those participating in the 2007 cross border program. The defunding of that program by the Obama administration as political payback to the Teamsters, however, did  not defund these inspection facilities. Contrary to what opponents of cross border trucking and Mexican trucks would have you believe, 100% of the trucks crossing our southern border are INSPECTED at these facilities. 350(c) mandates that these stations to be in operation during the hours the commercial crossing are open.

In El Paso, The Zaragosa bridge is open Monday – Friday 0600 to Midnight, or 18 hours. On Saturday, they are open from 0800 to 1600 and closed on Sunday.

The Bridge of the Americas hours of operation is Monday – Friday, 0600-1800 or 12 hours. Saturday hours are 0600-1400, closed on Sundays.

The hours the inspection stations where this data was supposedly gleaned from are required under law, to maintain the same schedule.

The Texas DPS commercial vehicle inspectors perform inspections under the CVSA North American Inspection Standards, although Texas being Texas, has been known to put additional, more stringent, some would say “anal” requirements to their inspections.

There are six levels of CVSA inspections, although Levels I-III are pertinent to this discussion.

• LEVEL I   North American Standard Inspection
• LEVEL II  Walk-Around Driver/Vehicle Inspection
• LEVEL III Driver/Credential Inspection
• LEVEL IV Special Inspections
• LEVEL V Vehicle-Only Inspection

[pullquote]“The number of violations for the trucks from Mexico is in line with U.S. industry standards.They are either no worse than U.S. trucks and better in some cases.”- Rep. Joe Pickett, D-El Paso[/pullquote]

“This report confirms what we have been saying for years – Mexican trucking companies and their fleets are not held to the same stringent safety standards as American carriers. Until they meet every safety, training and environmental standard that our trucking companies meet, we should not allow these unsafe Mexican trucks to drive freely through our country.”

R-i-i-i-ight.

Unfortunately, Pickett is exhibiting the same cluelessness about the dangers of Mexican trucks as the U.S. Department of Transportation, which wants to open the borders to them in a month or two.

The Teamsters will see about that.

“They are either no worse than U.S. trucks or better in some cases,”

1 million truck violations cited at border crossing? The story behind the story

Federal and Texas DPS inspectors at Brownsville POE

Today’s El Paso Times has a piece out titled “1 Million Truck Violations Cited at Border Crossing”by Diana Washington who has in the past been a reputable reporter on things concerning the US/Mexico border in El Paso. But the story is misleading and just the sort of thing we expect OOIDA to jump on first thing tomorrow morning. So let’s defuse this bomb before they have a chance to use it.

The story reads in full;

Texas state inspectors in El Paso have found thousands of safety violations in trucks coming from Mexico, including bad brakes, flat tires, axle problems and defective lights, statistics show.

Between fiscal years 2007 and the first six months of 2011, the state conducted 1.2 million inspections at state facilities by the Bridge of Americas and the Zaragoza International Bridge. The state fiscal year runs from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31.

During that period, officers found a million violations, and placed 31,519 trucks and 625 drivers out of service. Many trucks had multiple violations.

Why that’s just terrible folks, isn’t it? Based on that, we should ban all Mexican trucks from the US, Canadian too if you want to be fair about it. But how do those number break down?

The fiscal year runs from October until September 30 of the following year so in the case of this report we would be looking at,

• 54 fiscal months
• 216 fiscal weeks
• 1620 fiscal days (give or take a day or two)

American Trucker busted with cocaine valued at $4 Million Dollars

Florida trucker Bobby John McCarty busted in Raymondville Texas with $4 million dollars of cocaine in fuel tanks

RAYMONDVILLE – A routine traffic stop in the Valley by DPS leads to a close to $4 million drug bust.

Fifty-six-year-old Bobby John McCarty was pulled over by DPS in Raymondville on Saturday. Court documents show his tractor trailer was taken in for further inspection at Los Tomates Bridge.

That’s when authorities discovered 117 pounds of cocaine wrapped in 44 bundles in his fuel tank. The cocaine has a street value of $3.7 million.

McCarty was charged with drug smuggling. He is being held without bond.

SOURCE: KRGV.com