Today criminal organizations are sophisticated enterprises that operate on a global scale. These organizations are increasingly difficult for law enforcement to identify and penetrate. One area of vulnerability for these organizations is the transportation centers they must use along with everyone else. Trained law enforcement officers have developed methods over the past four decades to detect criminal activity occurring in transportation centers and employed these methods to interdict individuals traveling through these hubs.
Interdiction is a means of narrowing the field of possible suspects from the thousands of legitimate traveling passengers to those few who are most likely involved in criminal activity. Many trained law enforcement officers currently work in interdiction units at various transportation centers in the U.S. and throughout the world. These units need to be expanded, or created where they do not currently exist, because the interdiction units are not only effective in targeting criminal elements, but have been a very effective tool in identifying and stopping terrorist activity.
History of Drug Interdiction
Beginning in the early 1970's, DEA agents, along with state and local police officers working in Detroit and Los Angeles, determined that a number of investigations involved individuals transporting heroin from Los Angeles to Detroit via commercial aircraft. The officers began monitoring those airports and noticed that the drug couriers displayed discernable methods and characteristics. Those characteristics or “indicators” proved to be useful tools that could be utilized by law enforcement officers to identify drug couriers. It was during the transportation of commodities and personnel that the traffickers became vulnerable to detection by alert law enforcement officials trained in the proven methods of drug interdiction. In the mid-1980's, reacting to the change in distribution patterns of the drug trafficking organizations, airport interdiction units expanded to include bus terminals, train stations, commercial package and freight shipping facilities. In the 1990’s the interdiction concept was shared with law enforcement organizations in countries throughout the world. Today, numerous countries have active interdiction units or teams. While interdiction units were created to address the movement of drugs and money by drug trafficking organizations, it was discovered that using particularized characteristics to identify traffickers in specific cities also identified individuals involved in other types of criminal activity. In addition to arresting drug couriers and seizing currency from drug trafficking organizations, interdiction units also arrested individuals with arrest warrants for crimes including murder, financial crimes, credit card fraud, and other felony offenses, including those related to terrorism. For example, in 1993, members of the DEA Greensboro, NC interdiction unit identified an individual traveling on a bus through Greensboro who, when ultimately detained, was identified as Abdel-llah Elmardoudi (Hakim, 2002). Elmardoudi was wanted by the FBI for terrorist-related activities in Detroit, MI (Hakim, 2002).
Transportation Center Screening Methods
There have been no published studies in the United States on the effectiveness of employing specifically identified characteristics to recognize and approach potential criminal suspects in a transportation location. Notably, the British law enforcement community received interdiction-style training from U.S. counterparts and began utilizing characteristics that were cited as unusual relative to traffickers in the British Islands (Buck, 2010).
The British subsequently conducted a study of the effectiveness of using characteristics displayed in prior investigations to identify potential criminal activity. They compared cases involving the use of interdiction techniques to those cases where only standard security screening measures were employed. Standard security screening methods are currently in use throughout the world today by dedicated security organizations, such as the British Airport Authority and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in the United States.
Standard security screening methods include x-ray of carry-on luggage, employment of magnetometers on traveling passengers, random spectrometer examination of carry-on bags for explosive materials and random hand searches of individuals. The standard security screening methods could be described as mass screening. The British Study, which was conducted by the Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI), revealed that application of the known unusual or criminal characteristics by trained personnel was six times more effective in identifying passengers involved in criminal activity than relying on the current mass screening process (Buck, 2010).
The purpose of screening, especially in an airport, is entirely for the safety and security of the traveling public. However, while these screening methods can be effective as a deterrent to criminal activity, they are not intended to identify and arrest criminal elements traveling through transportation centers. It falls on active law enforcement interdiction teams to conduct investigations and pursue criminals in the transportation hubs.
Though it is not the duty of screening personnel to identify and arrest criminals, it is incumbent upon them to identify those individuals, especially terrorist organization directed persons, set on circumventing security and attacking individuals, especially relative to air travel.
Screening Methods to Combat Terrorism
Attempts to destroy airplanes and kill all passengers onboard are an ever present concern for security screening in the world’s airports. In the U.S., the TSA has responded to these threats through enhanced mass screening techniques that have been developed relative to specific attempts or threats. Several of these enhancements include:
(A) The removal of shoes for x-ray, which is in response to the attempt by Richard Reid to ignite his explosive laden sneakers on an airplane in flight from London to Detroit (BBC News, 2001).
(B) The deployment of low emissions x-ray machines that can scan an individual’s body and reveal items concealed underneath clothing, like the attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who had the explosives concealed within his underpants on a flight inbound from Amsterdam to Detroit (BBC News, 2002).
Al Qaeda has adapted to TSA’s enhanced screening methods by employing drug traffickers smuggling methods such as the insertion of drugs in a body cavity. A prime example of how Al Qaeda is adapting to tighter security is the recent assassination attempt of Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Nayef by Abdullah Asieri where Aseiri inserted a pound of high explosives and a detonator up his rectum and managed to pass through two sets of airport security, including metal detectors and palace security (MacVicar, 2009). He then waited 30 hours before meeting Prince Nayef and detonating the explosives (MacVicar, 2009). The use of a low emission x-ray might have detected this suicide bomber and possibly prevented the attack. Of considerable concern is a potential method of transporting explosives that would be undetectable by the commonly utilized technological detection methods.
While explosives are the primary concern for security in airports, they are not the only threat that requires detection. In July 2010, Housrou Kediji was arrested at the Bush Intercontinental Airport as he was attempting to board a flight to France. Kediji had ingested 85 condoms containing cocaine that weighed approximately 2.2 pounds (Schiller 2010). In December 2010, Uemduen Sophawat was arrested in Bali, Indonesia upon her arrival from Bangkok, Thailand. Sophawat had ingested 1280 ecstasy pills weighing approximately 402 grams (BNO News, 2010). These are but a few instances of drug couriers ingesting drugs and transporting them aboard airlines.
The DEA has encountered numerous Iranian couriers that had ingested crystal methamphetamine and were arrested at the Bangkok International Airport upon arrival from the United Arab Emirates as well as numerous other countries (Ngamkham, 2010). A number of these Iranian couriers had ingested several latex incased AAA batteries along with the crystal methamphetamine. Upon being interviewed subsequent to their arrests, none of the Iranian couriers knew nor could explain why they had been asked to ingest the batteries along with the drugs. Many DEA investigations have revealed that numerous drug trafficking organizations have and are still using couriers to ingest drugs and money and travel through airports throughout the world for delivery to local distribution organizations.
Terrorist organizations could easily recruit individuals that are willing to ingest explosives, up to a kilograms worth, which could be passed on an airplane and then detonated via a device that was also ingested or even inserted anally. Based on Al Qaeda’s assassination attempt by making use of an individual who inserted explosives up his rectum, it is highly likely they are aware and possibly planning utilization of individuals to board airplanes after ingesting explosives. To the author’s knowledge, there is currently no effective security method routinely employed that would identify couriers that ingest illicit items, including the use of low emission x-ray. Perhaps the only sure way to identify an individual, who has ingested drugs or other illegal items, excluding their personal admission, is through standard or digital x-ray of the stomach and intestinal areas. However, the problem lies in identifying those individuals who should be subjected to the x-ray as it is a time consuming and invasive procedure. The current security model of mass screening will most likely not identify individuals who have ingested dangerous or illegal items. Since the current method to detect if an individual has ingested drugs is through x-ray of an individual’s internal organs, and TSA’s current application of the low emission x-ray has proven controversial (Nader, 2010), there is conceivably no way to perform a large number of the more invasive internal x-ray’s on the traveling public. Therefore, it is needed to narrow the field and identify those individuals most likely involved in criminal activity by identifying specific trafficker characteristics or indicators.
Identifying discernable criminal characteristics or indicators along with interviewing, to minimize the number of persons who might require a more intensive search including an internal x-ray may be one way to overcome the current screening obstacles. Additionally, articulation of the precise indicators of criminal activity will permit law enforcement officers to take appropriate investigative steps that are legally authorized, such as a temporary detention or x-ray. Criminal characteristics identified by law enforcement personnel in particular venues and types of investigations can be an effective law enforcement tool in locating and arresting criminal elements utilizing many nations’ transportation hubs. Our best line of defense against criminal activity including terrorism is three fold. First, interdiction units need to be put into place at all major transportation centers, staff them with law enforcement officers who demonstrate the ability to work effectively in that type of environment, and then provide those officers with proper training. Second, personnel need to be identified who work in the transportation environment and who demonstrate the ability to recognize circumstances that are unusual or out of the ordinary. Once identified, those personnel will need to be trained to assist in locating and identifying potential criminal suspects. Finally, flight attendants need enhanced training in recognizing potential terrorist activity by passengers aboard the airplane, specifically relative to individuals who ingest dangerous items. The threat of terrorist activity at our transportation centers is ever present, and criminal organizations will continue to use transportation hubs to conduct their illicit activities. The best method we have for combating the threat of terrorism is the creation of interdiction units. These units can train transportation hub personnel to watch for specific characteristics that are unusual or out of the ordinary and then immediately contact law enforcement who would initiate an investigation.
REFERENCES
BBC News. (2001, December). Who is Richard Reid. BBC News Internet. Retrieved January 25, 2011, from http://www.news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1731568.stm
BBC News. (2010, October). Profile: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. BBC News Internet. Retrieved January 25, 2011, from http:// www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11545509
BNO News. (2010, December). Thai Smuggler caught in Indonesia after Swallowing 1,200 Ecstasy Pills. Thaindian News Internet. Retrieved January 30, 2011, from www.thaindian.com/.../thai-smuggler-caught-in-indonesia-after-swallowing-1200-ecstasy-pills_100476923.html
Buck, Gary. (2010, May). Validation of PASS Program. Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI). United Kingdom.
Hakim, Danny. (2002, November). Threats and Responses, the “Sleeper” Suspects; Man Accused of Being Leader of Detroit Terror Cell is Arrested. New York Times Archival Information. Retrieved January 25, 2011, from http://ww.nytimes.com/.../threats-responses-sleeper-suspects-man-accused-being-leader-detroit-terror-cell.html
MacVicar, Shiela. (2009, September). Al Qaeda Bombers Learn from Drug Smugglers. MMIX, CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved January 25, 2011, from http://www.cbsnews.com/.../main5347847.html
Schiller,Dane. (2010, July). Trafficking suspect held. Houston Chronicle. Retrieved January 30, 2011, from http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/bizarre/7125994.html
Nader, Ralph. (2010, November). TSA is delivering naked insecurity. USA Today. Retrieved February 24, 2011, from http://www.usatoday.com/news/ralphnader/tsadeliveringnakedinsecurity.html
Ngamkham, Wassayos. (2010, December). Iranians top police watch list for possible drug traffickers. Bangkok Post Chronicle. Retrieved February 25, 2011, from http://www.bangkokpost.com/iranians-top-watch-list-for-possible-drug-traffickers.html
George “Bill” Woessner (email: gww2354@yahoo.com)
The author began his career in 1984, as a Special Agent with the DEA, working interdiction at the Los Angeles International Airport. He has been involved in criminal interdiction for over 26 years and not only provided interdiction training in the U.S. but also in countries throughout the world. Throughout his career, the author has traveled to over 50 countries and worked with those country’s law enforcement personnel in a training environment. The past three years, the author initiated a standardized DEA international interdiction training program and has conducted interdiction training in various countries, including Jordan, Israel, Korea, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, England, El Salvador, and Bulgaria to list a few. This interdiction training relies on utilizing courier characteristics and interviewing to identify those passengers most likely involved in criminal activity. Based on the author’s extensive involvement in both working and teaching interdiction with countries throughout the world, he has developed an expertise relative to methodology and trends related to criminal organizations, utilizing interdiction hubs to facilitate illegal activities.
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