California drug busts soar despite Mexico crackdown
Mexican drug cartels are sending ever greater quantities of narcotics through border crossings in southern California, despite a Mexican government crackdown and a bloody feud between rival drug gangs.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection sources said late on Monday that seizures of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and amphetamines at five border crossings in the state jumped nearly 50 percent to 140,384 pounds (63,677 kg) in the nine months to June over the same period a year earlier.
The surge comes despite a clampdown on drug gangs by the Mexican government, which has sent hundreds of troops and federal police officers to round up traffickers in the border region since January in an operation dubbed “Safe Mexico.”
“For some reason the San Diego-Tijuana region is being targeted by the drug traffickers, and we’re seeing a big surge in drug seizures,” said Adele Fasano, the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection field director for San Diego.
Law enforcement sources said the cartels haul drug shipments of several tons to desert staging posts south of the California border, where they are broken down into smaller loads to hurl at busy border posts in a technique known as “shotgunning.”
More: alertnet.org
One female police officer has been killed and another badly hurt in a drive-by shooting in the northern Mexican town of Nuevo Laredo.
The killing takes the number of police murdered in the town this year to 15, with about 110 killed during 2005.
The assassination took place close to the border with the US state of Texas.
Violence in Nuevo Laredo is the result of a vicious turf war being fought between two powerful drug cartels for control of the lucrative drug trade.
This brazen assassination, in the middle of the afternoon, took place in central Nuevo Laredo, just
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Mexico's government congratulated U.S. authorities on Friday for action against Mexican companies and individuals alleged to be involved in laundering illegal drug profits.
President Vicente Fox's spokesman, Ruben Aguilar, told a news conference the U.S. declaration was based on investigations within the United States -- implying it did not violate Mexican sovereignty.
The U.S. Treasury Department on Thursday added 30 companies and individuals to a list of alleged drug trafficking organizations. It allows U.S. authorities to seize their U.S. assets and blocks any U.S. citizen and resident from dealing with them.
"The government of Mexico congratulates the U.S. government
The government has assigned bodyguards to at least seven federal judges and magistrates after death threats were made against them in recent weeks, an official who oversees the federal judiciary said Wednesday.
Some analysts said the announcement, which comes after high-profile killings of police officers and prison workers, shows that Mexican drug gangs are launching an all-out assault on the government and civil servants, as they did in Colombia.
Elvia Diaz de Leon, head of the Federal Judicial Council, said the judges under threat are overseeing cases involving drug gangs.
"Today we have seven or eight cases of threats against circuit judges and
PHOENIX, Aug. 19 (UPI) -- The governor of Arizona and her counterpart in Sonora, Mexico, plan to coordinate efforts to fight drug trafficking and illegal immigration on the border.
Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano has been voicing frustration with federal officials in helping with U.S.-Mexico border issues, the Arizona Republic reported Friday. She and Sonora Gov. Eduardo Bours said they were setting up plans to combat "coyotes" who smuggle people across the border and the smugglers who take drugs across.
Napolitano said she was ordering 12 Department of Public Safety officers to an auto-theft task force. Stolen cars are often used in border
Steroid crackdown results in indictments in U.S. and Mexico
Federal officials on Thursday announced the indictments of 23 people and eight Mexico-based manufacturers of anabolic steroids on federal drug trafficking and money laundering charges.
The indictments are the result of a two-year investigation, dubbed "Operation Gear Grinder," that targeted Mexican companies that prosecutors say are responsible for more than 80 percent of the performance-enhancing anabolic steroids that are illegally smuggled into the United States.
John S. Fernandes, the top Drug Enforcement Administration agent in San Diego, said the operation was the largest steroid enforcement operation in U.S. history and that it should
Mexico sells drug loot online
A crackdown on criminals can translate into cash for the Mexican government when items that qualify are auctioned off.
Mexico is the first government to use eBay technology to take bids on some of property seized from bad guys, tax cheats, drug traffickers and money launderers.
Cars are the most plentiful and popular items, and there's a wide range of models available.
"The most expensive has to be a 911 Porche, I guess," said Francisco Farfan, a spokesman for SAE, Mexico's federal agency charged with disposing the seized property. "We sold a couple of X-Type Jaguars;
Mexico auto output, exports soar in December
Mexico's auto industry output and exports soared in December as the sector continued a dramatic rebound after months of weakness.
Production in December rose 33.3 percent from the same month last year, while exports climbed 63.5 percent, the Mexican Automotive Industry Association (AMIA) said on Tuesday.
For full year 2005, production rose 6.6 percent and exports climbed 8.4 percent.
Soure: today.reuters.com
County drug squad helps bust Mexico-Atlanta drug group
Undercover Fayette County drug agents played a role in a months-long investigation of a Mexican drug trafficking operation that netted 28 arrests Wednesday, authorities said.
The multi-state investigation also netted about 592 kilograms of cocaine, more than 40 pounds of methamphetamine and $8 million in cash, officials said. Multiple weapons and more than $1 million in cash was recovered in the metro Atlanta area alone.
The sting, called “Operation Long Whine,†also resulted in about two pounds of crystal methamphetamine — often referred to as “ice†— and the lab which was used
Mexico extradites drug lord suspect
Alleged drug kingpin Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix was extradited to the United States on Saturday to face drug charges, becoming the first major Mexican drug lord suspect to be sent north for trial.
Mexicos extradition of the man who is suspected of having once run the Arellano Félix drug clan was a victory for U.S. officials, who have been pushing Mexico to send them more drug lords.
Arellano Félix was loaded into a helicopter in Matamoros, then flown across the border and handed over to Texas officials in Brownsville after serving a 10-year sentence in Mexico. He will
Collaborator of Mexico Drug Lord Sentenced
An alleged cohort of imprisoned drug lord Osiel Cardenas was sentenced Thursday to 44 years in prison on drug-related charges, authorities said.
Adan Javier Medrano was convicted of smuggling drug money from the United States into Mexico and distributing cocaine north of the border, the federal Attorney Generals Office said in a news release.
Medrano served as a gunman for Cardenas Gulf Cartel, which moved tons of cocaine and marijuana into the U.S., and was in charge of drug-related activites in Chiapas state and Guatemala, the release said.
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