Drug Trafficking—Colombia

It is becoming increasingly clear that the term “narco-terrorism” is the new watchword in Washington. On March 23, we mentioned that the US was seeking the extradition of 50 members of FARC from Colombia; FARC was called a “narco terrorist group” at the time. About a week later, it was announced that a naval strike group would be deployed to the Caribbean to conduct an exercise focusing on “unconventional threats, such as narco-terrorism and human trafficking.”^[1] Today, the DEA has announced that seven people were arrested in Colombia on drug trafficking charges.^[2] According to John P. Gilbride, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA’s New York Field Division, “[n]arco-terrorism is a real threat to the security of the United States.”^[3]

The seven defendants, some of whom are “corrupt Colombian police officers,” are charged in an indictment alleging that they smuggled “more than $10 million worth of cocaine through the El Dorado International Airport in Bogotá, Colombia, for importation into the United States.”^[4]

The announced arrests are part of “Operation Caso Dorado,” and according to the indictment, the activity occurred between October 14 and 17 of 2005.^[5] In this alleged scheme, “corrupt Colombian police officials and Avianca Airlines employees permitted 409 kilograms of cocaine, worth more than $10 million on the streets of New York City, to pass through security at the Avianca Airlines cargo facility at El Dorado Airport without detection.”^[6] The cocaine was allegedly passed through security and guarded until it was sent to Mexico City, where it was seized by Mexican law enforcement officials.^[7]

When Colombian authorities executed the search warrants, they allegedly found an additional 552 kilos of cocaine, worth more than $10 million.^[8]

Nearly every story about a drug arrest mentions the street value of the drug, which raises the question of how the street value of drugs is calculated. In a 1991 tax case, an IRS agent calculated the street value of cocaine by multiplying the amount of cocaine in kilograms by 2.2 to arrive at a weight in pounds.^[9] He then determined how much 1 ounce of the drug would cost, multiplying it by 16 to arrive at a price per pound.^[10] Finally, he multiplied the price per pound by the weight of the cocaine, and arrived at a certain sum.^[11]

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[1] Jack Dorsey, GW Strike Group Will Head South for Training, Virginia-Pilot, Mar. 28, 2006.
[2] DEA, Police Officers and Airline Employee Arrested in Colombia, Apr. 4, 2006.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.
[7] Id.
[8] Id.
[9] See Jones v. Commissioner, 61 T.C.M. (CCH) 1721 (1991)
[10] Id.
[11] Id.