Public Intelligence

Three bulletins from the El Paso Intelligence Center on a drug-smuggling ambulance, cocaine hidden in tin cans and pot contaminated with Halon.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection Laredo Sector Intelligence Unit seizure of $1,757,665 of marijuana hidden in a cloned school bus from October 2009.

The intent of the Houston HIDTA Threat Assessment, produced by the Houston Intelligence Support Center (HISC), is to identify the potential impact of drug trafficking trends within the Houston HIDTA and to deliver accurate and timely strategic intelligence to assist law enforcement agencies in the development of drug enforcement strategies.

The threat of pharmaceutical drug abuse and diversion in the Houston HIDTA has been dangerously high and increasing for the past several years. Drug investigators report that it is becoming more widespread, addicting abusers from middle school to middle age. Perhaps the most concerning threat related to pharmaceutical abuse is the alarmingly high potential for overdose or accidental death from controlled prescription drugs. In Harris County alone, from 2006 through 2008 pharmaceuticals were present in over 66% of the 1533 cases of toxicity-related deaths.1 In 2009, over 78% involved pharmaceuticals. Not only is diversion a deadly problem, it is incredibly profitable. Pain management clinic owners gross an average of $4,000-$5,000 per day at each location. A successful owner running multiple clinics can easily make $75,000 a week from only three operations, getting paid entirely in cash.

Over the last few years, it has become more commonplace to see military-type weaponry such as grenades and assault rifles utilized by Mexican drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). Increasingly, many of the reported hand grenade seizures in United States are illegal, improvised grenades destined for Mexico and the DTOs. These devices have become a weapon of choice for Mexican DTOs because they are cheap, the components are relatively easy to obtain and manufacture, are easily concealable, and can kill or injure large numbers of people indiscriminately. Reports have indicated that grenade attacks originated mostly in southern Mexico around the beginning of President Felipe Calderon’s presidency in 2006, and have steadily spread northward as the conflicts between rival DTO cartels, and Mexican government’s enforcement efforts have intensified in the northern Mexican Border States.

On 02/23/2011 Khalid Ali‐M Aldawsari (pictured left), a Saudi national currently attending college at South Plains College, near Lubbock, Texas, was arrested on federal terrorism charges. Aldawsari was charged with attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction (WMD), in connection with the alleged purchase of chemicals and equipment necessary to make an improvised explosive device (IED), in addition to research into possible U.S. based targets. Court documents advise that Aldawsari had performed internet research on how to construct an IED, using chemical components. It has also been alleged he had acquired/taken major steps in acquiring the necessary components and equipment needed to build such a device. According to court documents, on 02/01/2011 a chemical supplier reported to the FBI a suspicious purchase of concentrated phenol, by a man named Khalid Aldawsari. Although the toxic chemical phenol can have legitimate uses; it can also be used to make explosives. Concentrated sulfuric and nitric acids, beakers, flasks, clocks, wiring, and a Hazmat suit were found during 2 FBI searches of Aldawsari’s apartment.

Warrants in Jasper County, Missouri, Cass County, Missouri, Clay County, Missouri and Grand Saline, Texas have been issued for Donald Anthony Moses, aka Tony Moses, for financial exploitation of the elderly and felony theft targeting senior citizens by committing home-repair schemes. The most recent confirmed date that Moses committed a home-repair scheme was on 18 January 2011 in Manhattan, Kansas.

(U//FOUO) Texas-Mexico Border Security Carnage Update, July 2010.

Nuevo Laredo Mexican Drug Cartel Gun Battle Extreme Carnage Overview, July 22, 2010.

Woodman State Jail Security Threat Group Office Gang Dictionary, August 25, 2004.

On May 8, 2010, a Spanish-language flyer was placed on a vehicle in Brownsville, Texas, warning that the upcoming weekend of May 15-17, 2010, would be one of the “most violent weekends in all of Mexican history” as members of an unidentified drug trafficking organization allegedly plan to battle an unspecified rival criminal organization.

If you encounter an Apple iPhone where the phone is locked with a Passcode, keep in mind the hand set only allows 5 Passcode attempts before locking out phone. This work-around is limited to iPhones with firmware versions 1.1.2 and earlier. The workaround was disabled on version 1.1.3 in February 2008. Data can be retrieved from the SIM card as well as from the phone handset. To remove the SIM card, place a paperclip in the hole at the top of the phone. Force must be applied to get the SIM holder to pop-up. The SIM card will be inside a plastic tray and can be easily removed. Process the SIM card as normal.

Confidential Harris County Texas Police CJIS Mobile Data Terminal Manual, For Law Enforcement Use Only, 2009.

The Barrio Azteca was organized in the El Paso, Texas, County Jail in 1987 from where it moved to the streets and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison system. The Barrio Azteca prison gang – which has chapters in El Paso, Texas, and Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico – has historically been linked to the Juarez Cartel. Barrio Azteca membership is estimated at 3,500 inside and outside of the prison system. Members have been reported in Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada, Arizona, California, Oklahoma, Idaho, Washington, Kansas, Illinois, South Carolina, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York and Utah. They participate in enforcing the rules of the Juarez Cartel in El Paso, Texas, and southern New Mexico.

This booklet is published by the Texas Department of Public Safety, Criminal Intelligence Service, with the cooperation of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice-Security Threat Group Management Office. It is being provided as a resource to assist law enforcement agencies and correctional staff in identifying possible members of Security Threat Groups (STGs) and is not to be disseminated outside your agency.