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On November 22, 2000, the DEA, FBI, IRS, and the U.S. Customs Service concluded an 18-month investigation targeting a multi-ethnic, transnational Ecstasy (MDMA) and cocaine distribution organization. The investigation, known as Operation Red Tide, was coordinated by a Los Angeles-based federal task force comprised of agents from the fore-mentioned agencies and strongly supported by several local and state law enforcement agencies. More than 22 arrests were made in Los Angeles, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Las Vegas, Nevada; Phoenix, Arizona; Anchorage, Alaska; Salt Lake City, Utah; London, England; Frankfurt, Germany; Milan, Italy; and Amsterdam, the Netherlands. On July 22, 2000, a team of DEA and FBI agents provided information to the U.S. Customs Service about a load of Ecstasy that had been shipped to Los Angeles from Paris, France. As a result, 1,096 pounds (2.1 million tablets) of Ecstasy were seized by USCS agents from a commercial air carrier in Los Angeles, the largest single seizure of the drug in history. The head of the organization, Tamer Adel Ibrahim, immediately fled the United States after the seizure, but was quickly traced to Mexico by the DEA/FBI team. Ibrahim began coordinating a multi-hundred kilogram shipment of cocaine from Mexico to Europe, as well as the shipment of an additional 1.2 million tablets of Ecstasy from the Netherlands to Los Angeles, via Mexico. In mid-September, Ibrahim traveled from Mexico to Amsterdam, where he planned to finalize the 1.2 million-tablet shipment of Ecstasy to Los Angeles. A co-conspirator, Joseph Gilboa, traveled from Israel to meet with Ibrahim and other members of the syndicate to facilitate the shipment. Gilboa and Ibrahim, along with others, were arrested shortly thereafter and the 1.2 million tablets of Ecstasy were seized by the Dutch National Police. Dutch officials continued their investigation over the next three months as the DEA/FBI team continued to funnel leads to that agency. On November 22, 2000, the Dutch National Police arrested seven co-conspirators, executed search warrants at 17 locations, and seized several hundred thousand US dollars, as well as several hundred thousand Dutch guilders. Ultimately, 3,127 pounds of Ecstasy tablets linked to the syndicate were seized in the United States and elsewhere around the globe. Operation Red Tide targeted a transnational Ecstasy and cocaine trafficking syndicate, and was a cooperative effort by the U.S. law enforcement agencies, as well as the Dutch National Police/Regional Team South, Mexico’s Fiscalia Especializad Para La Atencion De Delitos (FEADS), the Israeli National Police, the German Federal Police, the Cologne Germany Police Department, the Duissburg Germany Police Department, and the Italian and French National Police. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, the Downey California Police Department, the California Highway Patrol, and the Los Angeles IMPACT Task Force also worked closely with federal authorities in California throughout the investigation. 
Operation Red Tide began as a result of the largest single seizure of Ecstasy (MDMA). Over 1,000 pounds (2.1 million tablets) were seized on July 22, 2000, in Los Angeles, CA. |
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