US Announces Arrests of 755 in Mexican Drug Cartel Crackdown

By VOA News

25 February 2009

The U.S. Justice Department has announced the arrests of 755 people on drug charges in a crackdown on the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel that began in 2007.

The department says the suspects were detained in a 21-month multi-agency investigation called "Operation Xcellerator."

Forty eight of the arrests were made Wednesday in the U.S. states of California, Minnesota and Maryland.

The Justice Department says the operation led to the seizure of more than $59 million and more than 20 tons of drugs, including about 12,500 kilograms of cocaine and 7,000 kilograms of marijuana.

U.S. drug, law enforcement, tax and immigration officials cooperated with authorities in Mexico and Canada.

The Justice Department accuses the Sinaloa Cartel of trafficking drugs from Mexico into the United States through distribution cells in the U.S. and Canada.

The drug organization also is suspected of laundering millions of dollars in criminal proceeds from illegal drug trafficking activities.

The Mexican government is struggling to control powerful drug cartels that are fighting among themselves and with security forces for control of narcotics trafficking routes.

More than 6,000 people died in drug-related violence last year in Mexico.