17 Agencies Join to Target Desert ‘Cocaine Corridor’ : Crime: Effort aims to stem the flow of the drug into the Imperial Valley from Mexico, the prime route to L.A. region.

Seventeen law enforcement agencies have joined forces in a unique operation intended to shut down the “cocaine corridor” of the Imperial Valley desert, U.S. Deputy Atty. Gen. Jamie Gorelick announced Friday.

The cocaine smuggled across the California line accounts for at least 70% of the drug sent over the entire Southwest border by rings based in Mexico, making the state the prime staging area for the shipment of cocaine from cartels in Colombia and other South American countries, officials said. About 80% of that cocaine comes through the Mexicali-Calexico region, providing almost all the cocaine seized in the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

As described by Gorelick--the second-highest-ranking Justice Department official--the Imperial Valley project launched in November brings together the Drug Enforcement Administration, Customs Service, Border Patrol, Army and other agencies that tend to work in isolation--and sometimes even at odds with one another.

The goal goes beyond racking up statistics and locking up the low-level, usually impoverished drug “mules” who drive loads north, officials said. By pooling information, the task force--directed by U.S. Atty. Alan Bersin--plans to piece together a detailed picture of the structures and methods of Mexican smuggling cartels and target the kingpins.

“This extraordinary cooperation is necessary to coordinate intelligence and interdiction,” said Gorelick, whose visit was part of a continuing campaign by the Clinton Administration touting its border enforcement plan.

The Imperial Valley has emerged as a key smuggling corridor during past years because it is vast, barren and difficult to guard, yet lies only a few hours from the lucrative narcotics market of urban Southern California.

On the Mexican side, the city of Mexicali serves as a hub for legal and illegal goods arriving by rail, air and roads from the south, authorities said. The cartels fly the drugs on small planes into Baja California, or on large planes into the Mexican interior. Mexican smugglers then take over, warehousing the goods in Mexicali to be sent north in cars and trucks.

Several federal officials attribute the smooth functioning of the corridor at least partly to law enforcement corruption on both sides of the border.

The six-month project calls for the Border Patrol and Imperial County Sheriff’s Department to provide most of the interdiction patrols, with the DEA, Customs Service and other federal and local agencies conducting investigations and gathering intelligence. The Department of Defense and California National Guard have been recruited for reconnaissance with radar, sensors and other technical support, but the military is barred from making arrests.

Measuring the success of the 300-member task force will be complicated, authorities said.

“Seizures by themselves are not the principal indicator, and certainly not the only indicator of success,” Bersin said. “It is a breakthrough we need to accomplish to demonstrate to law enforcement, and to the public, how we are affecting the drug trafficking organizations with these kinds of operations.”