Drug dealers have always been resourceful. When one door shuts, they find another one to open. In this case, the open door is Atlanta, which has become the new “Southwest border” for drug smugglers.
By Bill Torpy
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
ATLANTA — When U.S. law enforcement officials last month busted a Mexican drug cartel moving tons of dope and millions of dollars, they announced it in Atlanta.
The distribution ring stretched from Colombia to New York to Italy, but the operation’s key hub was Atlanta. Long a commerce and transportation center for giants like UPS and Delta Air Lines, Atlanta tags itself as an “international city.” This time, it embodied that definition in an illicit way.
Federal drug agent Jack Killorin calls Atlanta “the new Southwest border.”
“All the things that make this area attractive to perfectly legitimate businesses make it attractive to drug smugglers: transportation, good communications, population, even good climate,” said Killorin, who heads the Atlanta high-intensity drug trafficking area task force, or HIDTA.
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