US raids target Mexican drug gang
Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 September 2009 12:37 Written by admin Tuesday, 3 March 2009 08:05
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US Attorney General Eric Holder on the arrests of drug cartel suspects
A major crackdown on Mexican drug traffuckers operating in the US has led to the arrest of 755 people, Attorney General Eric Holder has announced.
These included 52 people detained on Wednesday in California, Minnesota and Maryland in raids targeting the powerful Sinaloa cartel.
The 21-month operation involved US, Mexican and Canadian authorities.
A 2008 justice department report found Mexican traffuckers were the biggest organised crime threat to the US.
Operation Xcellerator was carried out across the US
Most of the cocaine available in the US is smuggled via the US-Mexican border, while Mexican drug traffuckers control most of the US drug market.
Announcing the arrests, Mr Holder described the cartels as a threat to US national security.
"They are lucrative. They are violent. And they are operated with stunning planning and precision, " he said.
As well as 755 arrests, Operation Xcellerator led to the seizure of :
- money totalling $59.1m (£41.5m)
- 23 tonnes of narcotics, including 12,000 kg cocaine, 7,257 kg of marijuana, 544 kg of methamphetamines and 1.3m Ecstasy pills
- 149 vehicles, three aircraft, 3 maritime vessels
- 169 weapons
"We successfully concluded the largest and hardest hitting operation to ever target the very violent and dangerously powerful Sinaloa drug cartel," said Michele Leonhart, acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
"From Washington to Maine, we have disrupted this cartel’s domestic operations, arresting US cell heads and stripping them of $59m in cash."
She said the investigation had uncovered a "super meth lab that is so sophisticated that we’ve seen none like it anywhere" and drug factory machines able to produce 12,000 ecstasy tablets an hour.
Operation Xcellerator had also disrupted the gang’s operations in Canada, Ms Leonhart said.
US officials say that over the past two years the street price of cocaine has more than doubled and purity fallen.
Turf wars
The Sinaloa cartel is one of four main Mexican drug-traffucking gangs, the others being the Gulf cartel, the Tijuana cartel and the Juarez cartel.
Turf wars led to the deaths of some 6,000 people last year as the traffuckers fought each other and the authorities, and Mexican media say so far this year there have been around 1,000 drug-related murders.
Mexico has deployed some 40,000 troops to tackle the drug gangs
Mr Holder told reporters he was concerned that drug violence from Mexico could spill over to the US.
"The problems that Mexico faces are also problems that we face," he said.
Mr Holder said the Obama administration would push for reinstating a ban on assault weapons.
This has been a long-standing request of the Mexican government which says guns smuggled over the border constitute a major threat to Mexico’s security.
Echoing the growing concern about the drug-related violence in Mexico, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told a congressional committee on Wednesday it had become one of her top priorities.
"Mexico right now has issues of violence that are of a different degree and level than we’ve ever seen before," she said.
The US Congress has authorised the spending of $1.6bn (£1.1bn) dollars to confront the threat of drug traffucking and organised crime from Mexico and Central America.
So far, $197m (£138m) has been released for military and law enforcement training and equipment in Mexico.
- via BBC
Learn MoreMexican mayor, police chief visit area to discuss crime prevention
Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 September 2009 12:38 Written by admin Friday, 30 January 2009 07:07
By Airan Scruby, Staff Writer
Posted: 01/26/2009 01:45:54 PM PST
PICO RIVERA – City officials shared their knowledge on crime prevention and fostered ties Monday with leaders from one of Mexico’s popular tourist destinations.
Pico Rivera hosted a delegation from Mazatlan, Mexico and from the California-Mexico Chamber of Commerce. The group visited Pico Rivera as part of a tour of Southern California to foster business ties and to learn about crime fighting efforts in cities where law enforcement is successfully reducing graffiti and gang violence.
"We came to establish a relationship with the city of Pico Rivera, to understand the operation of the city," Mazatlan Mayor Jorge Abel Lopez Sanchez said. "So that we can help each other."
Pico Rivera City Council members, along with
Station commander, Captain, Michael Rothans, and Gilberto Acuna, the Police Chief of Mazatlan, Mexico, admire a statue in front of the sation as they tour the Pico Rivera Sheriff’s Station, Monday, January 26, 2009. (Correspondent photo by Mike Mullen/SWCity)
Sister City commissioners and city staffers, greeted the delegation and presented them with plaques and a book about Pico Rivera’s history.
According to California-Mexico Chamber of Commerce President Zeferino Farias, the visit should foster new economic ties to improve business in Mazatlan and Pico Rivera.
"We’re about opening business on both sides of the border," Farias said.
Mazatlan has about 500,000 residents and has struggled to maintain safety and quell gang violence and tagging.
"Originally the thought was to find out how we got control of our graffiti," Pico Rivera Mayor Gracie Gallegos said.
Pico Rivera Sheriff’s Capt. Mike Rothans took Mazatlan’s police chief and the rest of the delegation on a tour of the sheriff’s station. A special presentation on Graffiti Tracker, which identifies taggers and all known examples of their work to make prosecutions easier.
The Pico Rivera Sheriff’s Station serves the city’s 60,000 residents plus another 40,000 in the surrounding area. Four years ago, Rothans said, the city was ranked one of the 10 worst in the state for crime.
Law enforcement officials decided to target juvenile crime and focus on tagging as a way to stop gang violence and serious crime before it happens. The Graffiti Tracker program made it possible to find taggers and prosecute the most prolific vandals.
"We know that graffiti is a gateway to other crimes," Rothans said.
According to Sanchez, lower crime rates will help Mazatlan, a coastal city, to continue growing its already-large tourism industry. He invited Pico Rivera officials to come to Mexico for Mazatlan’s Carnival festival, which is the second largest in the world.
"We are a tourism city," Sanchez said. "We have a lot to do in Mazatlan."
via – http://www.whittierdailynews.com/news/ci_11557308
Learn MoreKirk Andrus signs letter opposing cuts
Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 September 2009 12:38 Written by admin Friday, 30 January 2009 07:07
The California District Attorney’s Association (CDAA), a collection of the 58 district attorneys representing California’s counties, has sent letters of opposition to both Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and members of the California Legislature in opposition to certain proposed cuts, according to a release from Siskiyou County District Attorney Kirk Andrus.
The following portion of the letter was included in Andrus’ press release:
“We recognize the magnitude of the unprecedented budget shortfall facing our state and the sacrifices necessary to put California’s fiscal house in order; however, we believe that many of the proposals contained in the governor’s budget disproportionately impact prosecutors, irrevocably damage public safety in California, and serve only to exacerbate our economic problems.”
The CDAA is referencing proposed cuts to programs such as the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement (SAFE) program, Gang Violence Suppression Program and the High Technology Theft Apprehension and Prosecution (HTTAP) program, among others.
The SAFE program was started in 1993 and was responsible for the formation of a multi–agency task force that focused specifically on investigating crimes against children, including sexual exploitation on the internet, tracking sex crime fugitives and juvenile prostitution. HTTAP targets thieves who use computers to commit crimes and those who target computers for crime.
The release states that another letter was sent to Schwarzenegger criticizing the governor’s plan to eliminate parole supervision for all non-serious, non-violent, non-sex offenders and also criticized a proposal to allow certain inmates an additional four-month credit for each rehabilitative program the inmate completes.
The release states that the CDAA believes that crime will increase and a greater burden will be placed on law enforcement if the cuts are made.
“We cannot emphasize strongly enough,” Andrus stated in the release, “that any short–term savings realized from these cuts will be dwarfed by a corresponding increase in ciminal activity in these areas.
“There is no question that these are incredibly difficult times in government – as well as in the private lives of Californians. However, such times inevitably bring an increase in crime. Letting felons out of custody early with no supervision and curtailing local resources to prosecute dangerous criminals are both propositions that will cost more than they will save in both money and suffering of Californians who are inevitably victimized.”
H.D. Palmer, Deputy Director for External Affairs at the California Department of Finance, said that California will face opposition on every cut they look at making, but ultimately cuts have to be made to try to fix the ailing budget.
“This is one of the difficult choices out of many,” Palmer said. “Virtually no department has gone unscathed.”
Palmer cited the cuts to Human Services and education, from Kindergarten all the way to grade 12, and many more.
“The Governor has tried to spread the burden across all departments,” Palmer said.
Palmer stated that cutting the programs in question will save the state 14.6 million dollars, just one portion of the cuts required to make sure California can pay all of its bills in the coming years.
“This is a microcosm of all the difficult decisions we will have to make,” Palmer said.
via – http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/news/x1589176906/Kirk-Andrus-signs-letter-opposing-cuts
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