Local law enforcement gather for Highway Smuggling Interdiction Awards

More than 350 law enforcement officers across the southeast and locally joined together at the Golden Nugget Casino this morning as part of the Homeland Security Investigations and The Gulf Coast’s High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Watch Center’s second annual South Mississippi Highway Smuggling Interdiction Awards Ceremony.

The event highlighted the efforts of individual officers and law enforcement teams who interdict criminals traveling through their perspective areas with illegal contraband.

As Interstate 10 and South Mississippi are active smuggling corridors for these criminals, law enforcement officials attending the event also receive training on what to look for and how to trap smugglers.  HSI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge Jere Miles said, “Some of the drugs that are smuggled over these highway networks are stopping in each community that they pass. So, obviously there’s that threat. The other concern to the community is the illicit money that’s gained from this and what it is being used to pay for. A lot of it funds a lot of the violence you see anywhere in the world today.”

Benjamin McQuagge with the Gautier Police Department said, “When you go to classes like that, you not only learn from the instructors, but you network with other guys, you see what they’re seeing in different parts of the country and it leads you to find more stuff cause you’re learning from your peers.”

McQuagge received the ‘Officer of the Year’ award for 2019.