Outrageous fines against small Mexican trucking firms!

Outrageous fines against small Mexican trucking firms!

Posted on Oct 21, 2007 in News & Views by PMC Comments Off

Small carriers in Juárez try to keep their trucks and drivers away from drug smugglers, but that’s not always possible.

They pick up a clients’ pre-packaged load, or haul another company’s trailer, and Customs and Border Protection officers at the international bridge find marijuana stashed in the shipment or in a hidden trailer compartment.

The carriers call it “contamination.”

Their trucks are seized for months, along with the offending cargo or trailer, until they can pay a huge fine. Their drivers sometimes lose their laser visas. And then comes the letter.

As described by several carriers who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation by the drug cartels and CBP, the letter is a fine by the U.S. agency. One carrier said his fine was $6.2 million. Another was asked to pay $18 million.

“Only on TV I had heard of something like $18 million,” he said.

Several large groups representing the manufacturers and carriers in Juárez said such stories are not uncommon.

The Coalición de Transportistas, a group of small to midsize trucking companies, estimated 40 percent of its 80 members have been assessed exorbitant fines. Officials of the group also said that in all the cases they knew of, the carrier was innocent.

“These are family businesses, well-known businesses,” said Oscar Kuri, general director of the Coalición Empresarial Pre Libre Comercio.

CBP officials said the fines are based on the street value of the seized drugs.

Street values can vary widely. A pound of marijuana is worth $200 in El Paso and between $1,000 and $2,000 in New York City, according to the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The carriers interviewed have been able to bargain their fines down, from $6.2 million to $65,000 and $18 million to $175,000, but they say it’s still far more than they can pay. Both carriers have been in business more than 10 years, own a dozen trucks each and said the event was their first “contamination.”

Kuri said that Mexican truckers have invested up to hundreds of thousands of dollars beefing up security in the past few years. They have installed fences and hired security guards. Those who can afford GPS devices have bought them; others place employees at strategic street corners to make sure trucks don’t stray from their routes. Some contract with security companies to check the trucks one last time before they cross.

Tags: CBP, contamination, GPS