Departing DEA Leader in El Paso Warns of Cartels Smuggling Heroin, Meth to U.S.

Mexican drug cartels continue to expand into heroin and methamphetamine trafficking as they turn away from marijuana, said the departing leader of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in El Paso. Will R. Glaspy, who for more than three years has been the special agent in charge of the DEA's El Paso Division, is being promoted to lead the Houston Division. Glaspy said the fight against drug trafficking is an evolving battle with changing drug trends, adding that cities and towns face a variety of challenges. The El Paso Division covers West Texas and all of New Mexico. It also has a district office in Albuquerque and smaller resident offices in Las Cruces, Midland and Alpine, Texas. During his time in El Paso, Glaspy said that his agents handled cases such as the arrests of Sinaloa-cartel affiliated drug traffickers in El Paso, Albuquerque meth traffickers and "Operation Crystal Mountain," which targeted meth dealers on the Mescalero Apache Reservation. DEA agents deal more with border drug-trafficking issues in El Paso, Las Cruces and Alpine, which covers the vast Big Bend area. "Basically, what we are trying to do is target command-and-control of the Mexican organizations sending the drugs up here," Glaspy said. In Albuquerque, the DEA deals more with gangs and drug dealers and a large opioid addiction problem, he said. Midland also deals with gangs involved in drug distribution. "We have a lot of drugs that are being imported into the Permian Basin to supply the oil fields," Glaspy said...more