Precursor drugs are biochemical substances used to make a more definitive product. One surveillance video showed workers allegedly loading hundreds of pounds of pseudoephredrine. 8 ringleaders arrested, DEA says Agents say they arrested eight of the 10 members of The Commission, including Hassan Zaghmot of Denver, whom the DEA said was the primary leader of the group. They said another member of The Commission was out of the country, and the other may have fled after the latest round of arrests began last Friday. The DEA said the group was supplying drugs that could fuel a methamphetamine network capable of generating hundreds of millions of dollars.
Pseudoephedrine is shipped to the United States from Germany, China, India and the Czech Republic.
The DEA said The Commission created as many as 18 companies to transport the drugs, not to legitimate companies, but to scores of Mexican drug traffickers who had methamphetamine labs on the West Coast. The DEA said that among those charged with drug offenses, it found company officials who had registered to distribute pseudoephedrine legally. From the West Coast, the DEA said, the finished methamphetamine would be shipped throughout the country, particularly to the Midwest, where methamphetamine has emerged as a drug of choice. It is threatening to follow in the footsteps of crack and take over communities. Pages will open in a new browser window External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.