US arrests 138 in heroin busts across country

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. agents on Tuesday arrested 138
people in a crackdown on a heroin trafficking organization that
used illegal immigrants as dealers, offered home delivery and
“buy two, get two free” sales of the drug.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents and other officers
made the arrests across the country as part of a nationwide
effort to clamp down on the sale of black tar heroin — a
potent form of the drug that is dark and sticky and is usually
melted down and injected by drug users.

The drugs were smuggled into the United States and sold by
illegal immigrants, mainly from Mexico, who set up shop in
smaller cities — often near methadone clinics frequented by
recovering heroin addicts.

“They purposely and shamelessly sold heroin in areas near
methadone clinics,” said Deputy DEA Administrator Michele
Leonhart. “They convinced those already struggling to remain
clean to pick up their dangerous … often deadly habit again.
They even lured them with ‘buy two drugs, get two free’
marketing scheme.”

The organization also used the illegal immigrants as
couriers in a “call and deliver” system under which a customer
could have his heroin delivered to the front door, the Justice
Department said.

The organization was importing and distributing about eight
kg (17.64 lb) of black tar heroin, with a street value of about
$2 million, each month from Mexico into the United States,
Leonhart said.