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DEA Offices & Telephone Nos. Atlantic City—609-383-3322 Camden—856-757-5407 Newark—973-273-5000 Paterson—973-357-4037

Drug Situation: The State of New Jersey is situated between the major industrial markets of New York and Pennsylvania and has been referred to as the “crossroads of the east.” It is also a gateway state, with major interstate highways, roadways, airports, seaports, and other infrastructures capable of accommodating voluminous amounts of passenger and cargo traffic from both the eastern and western parts of the United States, if not the world. New Jersey can therefore be considered an ideal strategic corridor as well as a vulnerable corridor for transportation of drug contraband and illicit currency. Over the past year, drug trafficking activity and drug prices in the Newark Division area of responsibility have remained relatively stable.

Cocaine/Crack: Cocaine HCL remain widely available throughout the state and is the drug of choice in most parts of the state. Just as heroin, distribution points are generally located on street corners in low-income areas in various cities. Cocaine is mainly sold in vials with colored tops or small zip lock bags. The movement of cocaine to the southeastern New Jersey area is usually accomplished via couriers from New York and Philadelphia.

Crack which also remains widely available is usually purchased as cocaine HCL from sources in New York and Philadelphia and cooked by local distributors and is specifically seen in economically depressed areas of each southeast county in New Jersey.

According to source of information as well as intelligence gathered through traditional investigative techniques, there has been a slight rise in cocaine transportation through the Newark Liberty International Airport via small parcel companies by Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs). These DTO’s use contacts at airports to bypass security and place cocaine-laden suitcases on planes.

Heroin: Heroin represents the most significant narcotic problem in New Jersey and accounts for more admissions to state treatment centers than cocaine, marijuana, and all other drugs combined. South American heroin remains readily available throughout New Jersey, continuing to sell at low prices and high purity levels. In the southern portion of the state, heroin is transported via car or bus from New York City and/or Philadelphia. Heroin is available in various forms, such as in glassine bags with brand names stamped on them, as well as pellet and brick forms. In several areas throughout the state, especially in the southern portion, a bundle of heroin now consists of 13 glassine bags instead of the traditional 10 glassine bags. Heroin purity in the Newark area continues to be among the highest in the nation. Heroin continues to originate from Colombia and is smuggled into the United States primarily by Colombian and Dominican organizations. Points of origin for the heroin are Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Honduras. Aruba, Curacao, St. Martin and Puerto Rico are utilized as transshipment points. Heroin traffickers are still using “swallowers” (couriers) to transport heroin into the United States. According to source information, these couriers typically fly from Colombia into the United States, mainly Miami, Florida.

Methamphetamine: According to the Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), there were over 155 emergency department mentions associated with methamphetamine in the state of New Jersey. According to source information, methamphetamine is gaining in popularity in the Cherry Hill, New Jersey area because cocaine is scarce. Intelligence and source information continues to identify that Filipino traffickers are importing large amounts of methamphetamine from Mexico and the Philippines. The methamphetamine is converted to “ice” in the Los Angeles, California area and then transported to the New York/New Jersey area via motor vehicle. Ice is also being shipped through various mail and parcel services.

Diverted Pharmaceutical Drugs: New Jersey has one of the highest concentrations of both pharmaceutical and chemical firms in the country. Doctor shopping, employee theft, and/or fraudulent phone-in prescriptions remain a source of diversion throughout the state. In the southern part of the state, intelligence and source information has notice some questionable prescribing habits of some doctors in their jurisdiction that seem to be contributing to diversion of OxyContin, Percocet, Hydrocodone and Xanax products via indiscriminate prescribing and/or sale of prescriptions to known drug abusers. Intelligence has also revealed an emerging trend that indicates that prescription rings based in Philadelphia, PA are traveling to pharmacies in southern New Jersey to have prescriptions filled.

Marijuana/Hashish: Marijuana is the most widely available and frequently abused illicit drug in the region. Marijuana continues to be shipped from various cities along the Southwest Border region via commercial air. Furthermore, the use of automobiles, tractor-trailers, vessels, US Postal Service, overnight services, parcel post continues to be utilized by DTO’s. Most of the marijuana seizures in the state have occurred at Newark Liberty International Airport, where passengers from Southwest Border states attempt to smuggle marijuana usually wrapped in cellophane and placed within luggage.

DEA Mobile Enforcement Teams: This cooperative program with state and local law enforcement counterparts was conceived in 1995 in response to the overwhelming problem of drug-related violent crime in towns and cities across the nation. There have been 409 deployments completed resulting in 16,763 arrests of violent drug criminals as of February 2004. There have been 16 MET deployments in the State of New Jersey since the inception of the program: Asbury Park, Camden, Paterson, Atlantic City, Lakewood, Passaic, Plainfield, Pleasantville, Trenton, Long Branch, Jersey City, Newark (2), Elizabeth (2), and Perth Amboy.

DEA Regional Enforcement Teams: This program was designed to augment existing DEA division resources by targeting drug organizations operating in the United States where there is a lack of sufficient local drug law enforcement. This Program was conceived in 1999 in response to the threat posed by drug trafficking organizations that have established networks of cells to conduct drug trafficking operations in smaller, non-traditional trafficking locations in the United States. Nationwide, there have been 22 deployments completed resulting in 608 arrests of drug trafficking criminals as of February 2004. There has been one RET deployment in the State of New Jersey since the inception of the program, in Camden.

More information about the Newark Division Office.

Sources

Factsheet last updated: 2/2004

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