Two dozen members of Mexico's powerful Sinaloa cartel have been arrested in an operation at the US-Mexico border that also yielded assault-type weapons and hundreds of pounds of narcotics, US authorities said on Sunday.
The secretive operation carried out by US and Mexican authorities Friday dealt a "strong blow" to the cartel, the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement said, just weeks after the arrest of cartel leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, following his escape from prison six months earlier.
"Due to the sensitive nature, this operation was conducted with utmost secrecy to maintain the element of surprise and to ensure the safety of the Mexican law enforcement officers executing it," ICE spokeswoman Gillian Christensen said in a statement late Saturday. The statement did not name the 24 people taken into custody but said the operation dubbed "Mexican Operation Diablo Express" targeted high-level members of the drug trafficking organisation.
Operating around Sonoyta, a Mexican city along the border with the US state of Arizona, the Sinaloa cartel has smuggled millions of pounds of illegal drugs, millions of US dollars and weapons between the two countries, ICE said.
The joint operation is further evidence of a more cooperative relationship between the United States and Mexico in cracking down on drug cartels responsible for taking billions of dollars worth of narcotics across the border every year. Mexican authorities had extensive help from Washington in recapturing Guzman in a violent stand-off in early January. Guzman had humiliated Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto with a jaw-dropping escape from a maximum security prison.
Comments
Comments are closed.