Calif. DOJ Launches LA-Based Anti-Meth Task Force
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — The California Department of Justice (DOJ) will create a new anti-methamphetamine task force based in Los Angeles, Attorney General Kamala Harris announced Monday.
KNX 1070's Ron Kilgore reports the effort will target transnational criminal organizations that have made California the single biggest point of entry for methamphetamine into the United States.
Funded by a $1 million federal grant, the DOJ team will be comprised of six special agents assigned to investigate illicit activities related to the manufacture and distribution of methamphetamine in California, according to Harris.
About 70 percent of all methamphetamine trafficked into the U.S. enters through the San Diego Port of Entry, according to officials.
The task force will work in a coordinated effort with other existing DOJ task forces, including the Los Angeles Interagency Metropolitan Police Apprehension Crime Task Force (LA IMPACT).
LA IMPACT is currently "the largest domestic task force in the United States of America," according to spokesperson David King.
"Specifically to target meth traffickers and methamphetamine manufacturers will allow more resources to go into local communities and to arrest these violators," King said.
The state DOJ is in charge of 18 task forces across the state, including the L.A. inter-agency unit, which draws from federal, state and local law enforcement agencies and investigates mid- to major-level drug trafficking
groups.
During the Sept. 10 sweep of the Fashion District, federal agents seized more than $90 million in cash boxes, duffel bags, backpacks and even in the trunk of a Bentley.
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