CORBIN —
By Sharae Myers / Staff Writer
Group “smurfing” in Kentucky is now feeding thousands of small user methamphetamine labs, with devastating impacts on public safety and drug-endangered children.
That was the message relayed to the Corbin Rotary Club Thursday by Bob O’Neil, special agent with the United States Forest Service Law Enforcement and Investigations Agency, who addressed the club at its regular weekly meeting.
O’Neil talked about the production of methamphetamine, the key ingredients it contains, about “smurfing” for ingredients and the operation of dismantling meth labs.
O’Neil said meth makers are recruiting people they call “smurfs” to purchase boxes of pseudoephedrine, which they trade back to the cooker for $50 worth of meth. Each smurf recruits more people into the practice.
Pseudoephedrine is the key ingredient necessary to make the potent illegal drug.
The electronic tracking of pseudoephedrine purchasers initially showed promise and resulted in a handful of states stopping the illegal sales of pseudoephedrine, but O’Neil said it’s now being completely evaded through group buying and use of false identities.
In order to purchase a box of pseudoephedrine you have to produce an ID that is tracked in a federal database. The average legal limit to purchase pseudoephederine products in a 30-day period is four boxes.
O’Neil said that this practice of buying pseudoephedrine for meth making is getting a lot more people in trouble because they are being charged with conspiracy to manufacture meth.
O’Neil said his agency conducted a 10-day detail last January of two pharmacies in Corbin and one in London.
“All we did is watched people buy Sudafed and were able to indict 211 people who were involved in the practice of smurfing.”
After the indictments, O’Neil said those people buying pseudoephedrine for meth production have started using other pharmacies.
smyers@thetimestribune.com
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