Pubdate: Thu, 26 Feb 2009 Source: El Paso Times (TX) Copyright: 2009 El Paso Times Contact: http://www.elpasotimes.com/formnewsroom Website: http://www.elpasotimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/829 Author: Daniel Borunda DRUG CARTEL ROUNDUP IN U.S. NETS 750 EL PASO -- The Sinaloa drug cartel, at the heart of vicious drug war in Juarez that has claimed more than 1,900 lives, was the target of an extensive law-enforcement operation to disrupt its cells in U.S. cities, including El Paso, officials said Wednesday. The arrests of 24 people over the past year in El Paso and the seizure of more than 3 tons of marijuana at a local warehouse last month were part of Operation Xcellerator, officials said. Officials said more than 750 people were arrested nationally on drug charges as part of a 21-month, multi-agency investigation targeting cells of one of Mexico's most powerful criminal organizations. The results of the operation were announced Wednesday by U.S. Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and DEA acting Administrator Michele Leonhart in Washington. "We successfully concluded the largest and hardest-hitting operation to ever target the very violent and dangerously powerful Sinaloa drug cartel," Leonhart said in a statement. Officials said 52 people were arrested Wednesday in California, Minnesota and Maryland. The other 700 were arrested during the course of the nearly two-year operation. "From Washington to Maine, we have disrupted this cartel's domestic operations -- arresting U.S. cell heads and stripping them of more than $59 million in cash -- and seriously impacted their Canadian drug operations as well," Leonhart said. Drugs seized in the operation included more than 8 tons of marijuana, 13.2 tons of cocaine, 17.6 pounds of heroin and 1.3 million Ecstasy pills. Authorities also seized three airplanes, 149 vehicles, 169 weapons and more than $6.5 million in other assets. The announcement comes while Juarez and other parts of Mexico are struggling with unprecedented drug-related violence. In Juarez, the Sinaloa and Juarez cartels are battling for control of lucrative smuggling routes. The battle has unleashed a fury of violence, in which victims have been decapitated, burned, hanged and shot in broad daylight. High police officials and patrol officers have been shot and killed, and soldiers have been called in to help limit the violence. More than 1,900 people have died since January 2008. More soldiers and police will be deployed to Juarez to curb the violence, Juarez Mayor Jose Reyes Ferriz said after a meeting Wednesday with top-level Mexican government officials that took place under tight security at a hotel. The meeting included Secretary of Defense Admiral Francisco Saynez Mendoza, Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora and Interior Secretary Fernando Gomez Mont. "We will not give up one centimeter of the plaza, and we will drive them from Juarez," Gomez said in a statement. Federal officials say 2,026 soldiers and 425 federal police are assigned to the anti-crime Joint Operation Chihuahua. Victor Valencia de los Santos, Juaarez's state government representative, told the Associated Press he expected the federal government to send 5,000 more troops and 2,000 extra police to Chihuahua. Matthew Taylor, an El Paso spokesman for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, said 24 people have been arrested in El Paso in connection with Operation Xcellerator. In one local bust, 7,028 pounds of marijuana was seized Jan. 16 by a DEA task force at a furniture warehouse on the East Side, Taylor said. The case was one of the largest single drug busts in El Paso in recent years. Javier Flores, suspected of being a leader of a smuggling ring, was arrested. Other alleged bosses of El Paso smuggling rings arrested in the operation were Jorge "Chino" Mercado Alcocer and Rafael Garcia, who allegedly got his drugs from Flores. The Sinaloa drug cartel, reputedly headed by Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman and based in the Mexican Pacific coast state from which it gets its name, has a presence in El Paso-Juarez because the region is a major narco-trafficking corridor. "Chapo Guzman has the heavy footprint (across the border from) the Fabens area," Taylor said. Because of drug-related violence, the U.S. Consulate in Juarez earlier this month warned U.S. citizens to avoid visiting the Valley of Juarez across from the Fabens area. Tuesday, on a visit to El Paso, Texas Gov. Rick Perry asked the U.S. government for more than $135 million and 1,000 troops to help guard the border. According to the 2009 National Drug Threat Assessment by the Department of Justice, Mexican drug cartels have spread cells across the U.S., formed ties to street gangs and are the greatest organized-crime threat to the United States. Holder also suggested at the news conference that re-instituting a U.S. ban on the sale of assault weapons would help reduce the bloodshed in Mexico. Also Wednesday, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told the House Homeland Security Committee that drug-related violence in Mexico has become one of her top priorities. She has asked for an assessment of past U.S. military border security operations. "Mexico right now has issues of violence that are a different degree and level than we've ever seen before," Napolitano said. - -- The Associated Press contributed to this report. - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom