The DEA and many other law enforcement agencies in this hemisphere have worked together in such areas as bilateral investigations, intelligence gathering, institution building, and training. In Operation Millennium, this cooperation paid off. It sent a message to drug traffickers everywhere that freer trade and cutting edge technologies may make drug trafficking easier, but not safer. If you're trafficking in drugs anywhere in the world, the world's law enforcement agencies will find you and we'll arrest you. And in many cases, not only will we arrest you, but we will seize the assets you acquired through your illegal business.
Asset forfeiture is another important tool in the hands of law enforcement.
Drug dealers don't enter this business because they love their work. They enter it because they love the money they stand to make, and the many possessions it will buy. In February 1998, the Brazilian Senate passed a money laundering law. The Brazilian government is now working on ways to implement it. Tough enforcement of this law would send a clear message to traffickers that in the end they have little to gain and a lot to lose by entering this business.