460 pounds (208kg) of crystal meth, 19 gallons (86 litres) of meth solution, 15 pounds (7kg) of cocaine, $35k cash and 2 handguns and 7 suspected Mexican drug dealers comprise the impressive haul that Sacramento County Sheriff’s drugs task forces (Cal-MMET, HIDTA, and ADACAET) made on Thursday in Gilroy, California, according to The Sacramento Bee. This was the culmination of a year long investigation into a Mexican drugs cartel. The seized drugs would have had a street value of around $200 million USD.

Despite this significant  successful raid the head of the multi-agency drug task force, Lt. Fred Links, was keen to stress the massive scale of the drug problem and the difficulty of keeping up with it. The U.S. DoJ National Drug Threat Assessment 2010 reports that 3,478kg of Methamphetamine was seized along the US/Mexico border in 2009, along with 17,085kg of cocaine and 1.5 million kg of marijuana. The problem is growing, fuelling associated gang crime and firearms trafficking.

With limited financial, human and physical resources, US law enforcement agencies will need to maximise the benefits of intelligence and use technology to help them take proactive action.