Baby formula among growing criminal cargo traveling by interstate 

By BILL POOVEY
Associated Press Writer

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) -- Officers expect to find marijuana and
cocaine
being smuggled over interstate highways. But increasingly they are
finding
an unexpected illegal cargo: stolen baby formula.

There's a booming black market for baby formula, and federal agents say
the
profits from this trade are funding organized crime and in some cases
terrorist groups.

A drug officer discovered 1,224 cans of baby formula in the covered bed
of a
pickup truck during a Feb. 24 traffic stop on Interstate 75 in Bradley
County, court records show.

Six months earlier on I-75 in neighboring McMinn County, a Tennessee
trooper
stopped a van loaded with about 3,300 cans of powdered baby formula,
identified as Similac and Enfamil and worth more than $48,000.

In both cases, the drivers were illegal immigrants and the baby formula
was
stolen from Publix and Kroger grocery stores in Georgia.

Both drivers remain in federal custody, and the prosecutor is a member
of a
special counter-terrorism task force.

Powdered baby formula is attractive because it's compact, easy to
transport
and pricey; in some cases selling for more than $20 per can, Tennessee
trooper Kevin Hoppe said.

"I do know it's an organized criminal activity," Hoppe said.

FBI Director Robert Mueller four months ago said some people stealing
baby
formula were "suspected of providing financial support to terrorist
organizations, such as Hamas and Hezbollah."

Assistant U.S. Attorney James Brooks of Knoxville and Bureau of
Immigration
and Customs Enforcement agents, declined comment about the Tennessee
cases.
Court records do not mention terrorism, and there's nothing to indicate
the
cases are linked.

But FBI agent Tim Burke, while declining to talk specifically about
either
of the I-75 arrests, said "some of these types of operations are used
as
fronts for terrorism financing."

Burke said the FBI looks at "those types of connections. Some of them
are
just black market profit-making efforts. Others have more nefarious
connections."

There have been arrests for stealing baby formula in many other
states.

In February, four illegal immigrants in Mount Dora, Fla., were arrested
when
investigators found 162 cans of Similac and Enfamil formula in a
sports
utility vehicle.

Mount Dora police Sgt. Robert Bell said he was not aware of any
terrorist
link.

He said the immigrants would go to stores, steal baby formula and put
it in
a storage unit before "someone else picks it up and takes it to Texas
and
across the border. We think this (formula) was headed to Honduras,
where
they could sell it for big bucks."

In January, eight illegal immigrants pleaded guilty in North Carolina
to
federal charges in a multistate theft scheme that involved more than
$2.5
million worth of baby formula and over-the-counter drugs.

In Tennessee, Moises Delgado-Martinez, who was arrested Aug. 5 in
McMinn
County, made a plea deal with the government. His sentencing is set for
July
8, and court records show he helped start a multi-state investigation.

The driver charged in the Feb. 24 stop, Wilber Fierro-Zavaleta, 22, has
been
detained pending an April 15 hearing. He is charged with unlawful
interstate
transport of stolen goods and Brooks said he will be indicted by a
grand
jury April 12.

Zavaleta's attorney, Stephen Goldstein of Chattanooga, said he was not
aware
of any possible terrorist links to the case.

Mark Eisenbeis, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement senior
special
agent, said Zavaleta told investigators he was not aware the formula
was
stolen. He said he was being paid $300 to take it to a church in
Kentucky.

Eisenbeis said fingerprint records show Zavaleta was previously
arrested in
Jonesboro, Ark., when officers working a shoplifting case at a
Wal-Mart
store in November discovered 396 cans of stolen infant formula in a
van.

Zavaleta told agents he drove to Arkansas from Houston to transport
stolen
goods and was to be paid $500, records show. He was sentenced to 60
days in
custody and five years probation.

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