-- Operation Tecate part of record-setting Project Coronado
Date: 11/2/2009
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder called Project Coronado the largest law enforcement action ever undertaken against a Mexican drug cartel, and at the end of the 44-month multiagency investigation last week, the take supported his claim.
- 1,186 people arrested
- $32.8 million in U.S. currency confiscated
- 16,390 pounds of marijuana captured
- 2,710 pounds of methamphetamines seized
- 1,999 kilos of cocaine taken
- 389 weapons and 269 vehicles rounded up.
Contributing to the 19-state sweep was an investigator from the California Department of Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) who is member of the Inland Regional Narcotics Enforcement Team (IRNET) which conducted the Operation Tecate portion of Project Coronado.
"Once arguably the nation's methamphetamine production capital, the Inland region has transformed into one of its most vital distribution points," reported the Riverside Press-Enterprise. "The reasons, officials said at a Thursday news conference at the San Bernardino County sheriff's headquarters, range from the area's proximity to the border and its multiple interstate crossings."
In addition to the ABC investigator assigned fulltime to IRNET, the rest of the team includes agents and officers from the San Bernardino and Riverside county sheriff's departments, San Bernardino and Redlands police, and the Drug Enforcement Agency.
The IRNET team:
- Served 32 search warrants
- Arrested 25 suspected traffickers
- Seized 500 pounds of methamphetamines and 128 pounds of cocaine
- Confiscated $531,000 in cash.
According to the newspaper, "La Familia, based in Michoacan, Mexico, has earned a reputation as one of the most violent cartels, officials said, using military-grade weapons to carry out kidnappings and killings of Mexican law enforcement."
At his Washington D.C. press conference, Attorney General Holder said, "This unprecedented, coordinated U.S. law enforcement action -- the largest ever undertaken against a Mexican drug cartel -- has dealt a significant blow to La Familia's supply chain of drugs, weapons and cash flowing between Mexico and the United States ... with increases in cooperation between U.S. and Mexican authorities in recent years, we are taking the fight to our adversaries."
Shelley Bishop, president of the California Association of Special Investigators (CASI), which represents ABC investigators, called her department's participation a necessary ingredient for the success of any such operation as Tecate. "Licensed liquor establishments are magnets for all types of illegal activities, not just alcohol-related ones. I'm proud of the work our investigator did in contributing his specialized training to the success of this record-setting operation."
Alan Barcelona, president of the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association, which represents CASI called on state policymakers to start taking a little more pride in the work their agents, investigators, and inspectors do. "After 9/11, state-employed special agents, investigators, and inspectors became a vital part of the security of our nation, and Project Coronado is the best proof of that so far. The ABC investigators we represent work hours no one else would and have to go into places no sane person would be caught dead in. It is inconceivable that Tecate and Coronado could have gone off as well as they did without the help of Alcohol Beverage Control investigators here in California and in other states."
The U.S. Attorney General's press release can be read at the first link below. The second link goes to the Riverside Press Enterprise story.
[Photo, courtesy of the U.S. Dept. of Justice, from left to right, acting DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart, U.S. Attorney Peter Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, and U.S. Attorney Benton Campbell discuss Project Coronado.]
For more information:
http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/October/09-ag-1135.html
http://www.pe.com/localnews/inland/stories/PE_News_Local_S_cartel23.48c820d.html
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