Last year, Dutch and Israel authorities seized more than 1 million tablets and arrested 49 people in the Netherlands, Israel and elsewhere. The pills fit easily in suitcases and carry-on bags. Another dealer filled his child's electronic toy with the drugs to pass the Customs Service inspectors. Traffickers take advantage of relaxed European Union borders, shipping their drugs from Paris or Berlin instead of the heavily scrutinized routes from Amsterdam or Brussels. It's complicated because there is not just one group with one modus operandi,'' says Hezi Leder, police attach for the Israeli embassy in Washington.
Israeli authorities participate frequently in stings with U.S. and European authorities.
Customs trained 13 dogs last month to sniff out Ecstasy. The agency also has formed an Ecstasy task force that catalogues smuggling methods and coordinates searches. The DEA is hosting its first Ecstasy conference in July in Washington. More than 200 international, federal, state and local law enforcement officials are expected to attend. Even as law enforcement tightens its grip on the international Ecstasy trade, U.S. entrepreneurs have begun to produce a version of the drug.