Earlier quoted context omitted.
Dude, that report was written AFTER the laws which required it to be moved behind the counter, people to take IDs, etc. 2 years after. Smurfing was the response to that. They used those databases to identify it and target folks. That's the whole point.
I re-read it again. It says that exactly nowhere. In fact, the one specific case it did talk about, the causality was reversed: the investigation started with a couple that was recruiting other people to buy.
https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/meth/index.html
https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/sites/default/files/pag...
Page 5.
I’ve read press releases where the DEA flat out says they looked at the logs to identify suspicious purchasers, but i can’t find them in the noise.